Civil Society organisations need to update themselves with credible data and information to bridge the gap between the government and the citizenry in terms of revenue disbursement and subsequent utilization, Executive Secretary of Community Education Advancement of Peace Initiative (CEAPDI), Adesina Adefolahan, has said.
He spoke at the weekend in Abeokuta during a one day workshop of the 2007-2011 FISCAL Allocation and Statutory Audit Report For Gender Based Civil Society Groups jointly organized by CEAPDI and Centre for Public Private Cooperation (CPPC), with the support of Nigeria Extractive Industries Initiative (NEITI)
The workshop, which attracted number of participants, was conceived to address the lack of credible information which has led to people’s distrust in public governance
Adefolahan noted that the issue of transparency and accountability is paramount for any nation to develop.
‘Interestingly, President Muhammed Buhari has agreed to adopt the findings and recommendations contained in the NEITI audit report. This dissemination workshop of the 2007-2011 Fiscal Allocation and Statutory Audit Report conducted by Nigeria Extractive Industries Initiative is mandatory.’
NEITI has, since inception, conducted five audits on the Extractive Industries in Nigeria, with the audit focused on the payments made by the industry companies reconciled with the receipts recorded/published by the governments through its various representatives
‘As members of the civil society, some of our roles in the NEITI process include identification of key issues of public interest that relate to NEITI mandate, agenda setting for public debate, discourse and engagement with extractive revenue companies and government for purposes of improving governance through transparency and accountability’, he said.
‘These include exposing fraudulent practices, corruption, bribery, process lapses and shady dealings by individuals and groups at any strategy of NEITI/EITI operations.’