THE Executive Director of the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity (CeFTPI), Umar Yakubu, has said that Nigeria’s fiscal accountability crisis is far worse than citizens realise. According to him, the problem is not just corruption, but a system deliberately stripped of the tools needed for transparency.
He made this known on Wedneday December 3 when he appeared on the ICIR’s accountability interview series.
“Nigeria’s fiscal accountability crisis is far worse than citizens realise and the problem is not just corruption, but a system deliberately stripped of the tools needed for transparency,” he said.
Yakubu outlined the loopholes enabling corruption across federal, state, and local government systems, warning that Nigeria’s accountability framework has buckled under years of political interference, weak demand from citizens, and deliberate sabotage of watchdog institutions.
“If we do not look at the factors that cause those problems, we will not resolve it. For example, if we look at public sector corruption, instead of the normal people to advocate against EFCC, ICPC, we don’t look at that. We look at the primary source of all this public sector corruption, which is usually the political class.
“How did the political class get to where they are? We have a regulator called INEC, (Independent National Electoral Commission). So our work will focus more, not that we’re ignoring these other ones. We will now focus more on INEC because, for example, if you get your electoral system right, you will not have these pressures you have on the system.
“Once there’s transparency, the level of accountability will increase. We look at public sector reform because a lot of problems we have in Nigeria, aside from corruption, are a lot of waste. It’s usually about waste and low level of efficiency. So we look at that as well. Thirdly, we look at the integrity of systems, not of individuals,” he said.
Yakubu said federal commissions and regulatory agencies such as NCC and JAMB have shown minor improvements in transparency, noting that core ministries have not moved an inch since 2021.
“State-level transparency is almost non-existent. There is no state assembly in the last 10–15 years that has impeached or even seriously questioned a governor on public spending,” he said.
Yakubu explained why repeated revelations in annual audit reports rarely lead to prosecution.
“The Auditor-General is one of the most powerful offices in the constitution, but the political system has found a way to weaken it.”
Their reports are meant to trigger legislative action, but instead, “the National Assembly is often in bed with the executive. Without their support, even constitutional watchdogs become toothless.”
The CeFTPI boss urged Nigerians to demand for transparency across all sector and hold power to account.
“Citizens are not demanding enough. The only people doing this work are usually civil society like us, you and I, and a couple of media. So there needs to be more demand for transparency and accountability, because what evidence has shown is that when citizens are not demanding and they leave it wholly to the media, though the media is very important and critical, I understand how many ways citizens can voice their concerns,” he added.
According to Yakubu, CeFTPI was registered in 2016 but started operation in 2020 after COVID.
“But before, between 2016 and 2020, we’re doing a low-level advocacy around things like rape, fraud, corruption, organised crime, human trafficking.
“We try to advocate in areas where we feel that the cost of the problems in whatever ill we see in society, if it’s corruption, we look at what are the primary enablers,” he explained.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.