CISLAC partners other CSOs for 2022 SCALE project
NEWS DIGEST – Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), the national chapter of Transparency International in Nigeria, in partnership with other Civil Society Organisation is prepared to hold the 2022 Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) project.
The project with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is in commemoration of the 2022 Open Government Partnership (OGP) Week.
According to the statement made available to The News Digest, the project strives to highlight the organisers’ effort as a cluster to reiterate a known accountability deficit fact within the extractive sector that literally deprives the nation of the benefits that the sector has to offer and our unrelenting effort at getting it right in that regard.
It will be recalled that in 2016, the Beneficial Ownership transparency sits within the framework of the OGP initiative to which the Nigerian government signed up to, following President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to a full-scale anticorruption agenda at the international Anti-Corruption Summit held in London in May, 2016.
While the project is targeted at strengthening the capacity of Extractive cluster members and other stakeholders to undertake sector specific advocacy, it is also aimed to advocate for a sustainable implementation of Beneficial Ownership Disclosure regime and Contract Transparency legislative/policy framework for the management of the extractive sector.
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A part of the statement read, “The cluster notes that the extractive sector in Nigeria suffers from corruption resulting from lack of transparency and accountability in governance. So far, the reforms made to address corruption in the extractive sector have fallen short of desired goals. Year in year out the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative rolls out heart breaking figures on unremitted and unaccounted funds that could have been channeled into meaningful development for the good of the citizens. So far, there has been little or no impact on the lives of the citizens and relevant stakeholders have not been able to effectively engage and communicate in a manner that will mobilize citizens to exert the necessary pressure, demanding accountability from the government.”
The SCALE project 2022 also seeks to champion budgetary allocation for the implementation of the open Beneficial ownership register in Nigeria and increase awareness on the sector governance among citizens including youths for transparency and accountability in the extractive sector.
The 2022 SCALE project is in partnership with the Civil Society Organisations from different states of the country such as the Community Conciliation and Development Initiative (CCADI) from Rivers state; Support for Training and Entrepreneurship Program (STEP) from Akwa Ibom state; Good Governance Team (GGT) Nigeria based in Abuja.
Others include: Connected Advocacy for Empowerment & Youth Development Initiative (Connected Advocacy) from Edo state; Speak Out Africa Initiative based in Abuja; Policy Alert based in Akwaibom and cross rivers states; Social Development Integrated Center (Social Action) based in Rivers state and Abuja; International Centre for Women Empowerment and Child Development (ICWECD) based in Delta state; Institutional and Sustainable Development Foundation (ISDF), Lagos state and Better Community Life Initiative (BECOLIN), Imo state.
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