By Ahmad Umar
Gombe (Nigeria) – A Non Governmental Organisation, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has urged women and youths to be part of the present administration’s fight against corruption.
The Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, made call in Gombe, northeast of the country at a one day sensitization programme for Women and youth groups on their rights and constitution organized by the Centre.
The programme is being implemented through Transparency International (TI) in Berlin with the support from Global Affairs Canada to empower citizens on anti-corruption.
The Executive Director represented by the Senior Programme Officer of the organization, Kolawole Banwo said that it is important for citizens to begin to demand accountability from the government and that Nigerians are not aware of their fundamental rights and as such, cannot tell when it is violated or know where to go to seek redress.
According to him, there is a need for all Nigerians to understand their rights and demand accountability from those who govern them, hence the need for the Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres (ALAC) which offers citizens the opportunity to actively engage in fighting corruption by reporting corruption cases.
It was against this background, he said, the sensitization was organised to get citizens involved in the fight against corruption, build knowledge, share ideas and support victims and witnesses of corruption.
“This is to empower citizens to become part of the anti-corruption campaign, which is the core focus of the present administration. The focus of the project is on increasing the integrity, transparency and accountability of public and private sectors, while empowering civil society to advocate for change in policy and practice. It also seeks to empower citizens to protect their rights to social services affected by corruption,” he said.
“The overall goal of IMPACT is to contribute to fighting corruption in 12 countries (eight in the Americas- Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela- and four in Africa- DR Congo, Ghana, Mozambique and Nigeria) over a four–year period, with focus on increasing the integrity, transparency and accountability of public sector institutions and the private sector, while empowering civil society to advocate for change in policy and practice. It also seeks to empower citizens to protect their rights to social services affected by corruption. This is in line with one of Nigeria’s commitment under the Open Government Partnership, OGP to support the victims and witnesses of corrupt practices.
https://www.africaprimenews.com/2017/11/04/health/nigeria-civil-society-legislative-advocacy-centre-frowns-increased-maternal-deaths-kaduna/
“CISLAC proposes to support these components by establishing Advocacy and Legal Advisory Centres (ALACs). This is a centre designed to take reports for witnesses and victims of corrupt practices on a case by case basis and then working with the relevant MDAs to explore their internal processes to address the complaint in order to shore confidence in citizens and deter their staff from perpetrating similar acts.
“This will commence with sensitization of citizens on their rights and rules, regulations and code of conduct of staff of the MDAs and Service providers to be engaged. The processes can be harnessed to advocate for changes in policies.
“We also propose to undertake sensitization of young people especially in tertiary institutions to both commit to shunning corruption and becoming advocates of promoting attitudinal changes against corruption as future leaders. This fits into the ‘Change begins with Me’ Campaign of the present administration”, Rafsanjani.
