Bukola Afeni
Civil Society Organizations(CSOs) said Nigeria obtaining low scores in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) is not a good reflection of the country.
While stating that every individual has a role to play in ensuring that Corruption is put to an end in the country.
They made the disclosure at a Civil Society Steering Committee Coordination meeting on Defence Accountability and Civilian Oversight in Enugu state.
The steering committee meeting in Enugu on Defence accountability and civilian oversight, was organized by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center (CISLAC)/ Transparency International in Nigeria (TI-Nigeria) in collaboration with Transparency International – Defence and Security Project.
The Programme Officer of CISLAC, Bertha Ogbimi said corruption in the defence sector is dangerous, divisive and wasteful.
“Every citizen has a role to play in ensuring that our nation is not referred to as a “Banana Republic.
Corruption poses a danger to our system and daily activities.
” When resources are not utilized judiciously, the Country and its people are exposed to a lot of threats.
We need to protect the national interest, but some information is needed by the public to know what steps to take to protect the Country and its people”, she said.
The Head of Monitoring and Evaluation CISLAC, Mrs Lovelyn Agbor Gabriel, said while engaging in advocacy, non-state actors need to move away from the regular attack system when tackling state issues with the government or other responsible bodies.
“Constructive dialogue will help, as the state and its actors will see us as partners and feel comfortable enough to collaborate. The collective view must be obtained in any advocacy effort because it helps in the mobilization and education of constituencies around an issue for their voices to be heard.”
Mrs Lovelyn stated that understanding the individual target and the process is key to developing a strategy for effective advocacy.
“The issue of timing is also very important. Good timing has a huge role to play in advocacy, and inefficient timing may lead to a waste of resources and efforts.”
She introduced the concept of power mapping and its importance in advocacy. “There is a need for advocates to acknowledge that the individual/group targets have differences and these differences have to be taken into consideration”, she said.
