The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede has described policymaking and implementation as twin challenges undermining Nigeria’s development.
He stated this in his message at the graduation of the second cohort of the Policy Writing Fellowship, and unveiling of the Local Governance Accountability Portal, as well as the Policy Registry, organised by the AGORA Policy at the Conference Hall, Centre for the Study of Economics of Africa, Mabushi, Abuja.
The EFCC chairman who spoke through the Director, Public Affairs Directorate, Commander of the EFCC, CE Wilson Uwujaren, applauded Agora Policy for addressing the challenge of policymaking and implementation through human capital development and research.
According to him, “Policymaking and implementation have long been identified as twin challenges undermining Nigeria’s development. It is therefore reassuring that Agora Policy opted to address these challenges through human capital development and research.”
While congratulating the 25 fellows who graduated from the programme, Olukoyede charged them to ensure that they impact the country’s policy making and implementation architecture with the knowledge they have garnered.
“You have a responsibility to make your training count through vigorous policy interrogation and provision of alternative viewpoints that challenge existing orthodoxy. As the chairman of an agency dedicated to promoting transparency and public accountability, I am impressed by the investment of Agora Policy in strengthening transparency and accountability at the third tier of government, with the launch today of the Local Governance Accountability Portal,” he said.
Speaking on the Local Governance Accountability Portal, Olukoyede stated that the initiative was a game changer as it promises to lift the veil of opacity which makes it hard for scrutiny of public expenditures, regretting that “For decades, releases to local governments from the federation account, management of internally generated revenues and expenditures by the councils have been under a mighty cloak of secrecy, where records are inaccessible, where citizens cannot interrogate what was received against what was spent,” noting that “where elected and appointed officials operate without the discipline of public scrutiny, accountability takes flight.”
The Local Governance Accountability Portal holds a strong promise of change by providing open access to financial allocations to local government areas from 1999 to date, alongside the profiles of the local government areas, the names of their elected officials, thus putting every information, necessary for the enforcement of accountability in the third strata of government in the hands of the citizens.
In his welcome address, founder of Agora Policy, Waziri Adio, noted that the event captures three key areas which include tools for deepening the capacity for evidence-based policymaking and participatory governance in Nigeria, graduation of the Policy Writing fellowship and the unveiling of the portals, which are about data availability and access.
“Data is important, but agency is more important. Data without agency is just a set of numbers. And we are not without agency. We are not hapless or helpless. If we want better governance at the local level, we need to demand it, and doing it with evidence will surely help,” he said.
The Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala Usman, delivered the keynote address.
