NIGERIA continues to lose billions of naira to corruption as weak oversight and broken systems allow fraud to thrive, according to founder of the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity (CeFTPI), Umar Yakubu.
Yakubu told the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) that corruption thrives because the structures meant to prevent it are weak and inefficient.
He also highlighted institutions like the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Auditor General of the Federation, which have been strategically weakened by political interference.
“If you look at the role of the Auditor General of the Federation, it is very strong and the law empowering that organisation is very strong. But the political system has found a way of weakening that office. If you check the constitution, if I’m correct, they are one of the three agencies, INEC, Code of Conduct Bureau and Auditor General, that are actually created by the constitution, so they are that powerful.
“But to even enable their agency is that their report is supposed to go to the National Assembly. But when they don’t have the support of the National Assembly, probably because they are in bed with the executive when it comes in terms of all this public sector corruption, they have strategically weakened their agency to perform its duty,” he said.
According to him, CeFTPI has exposed the scale of the problem through its Transparency and Corruption Risk Assessment (TACRA) and Transparency and Integrity Index, tools that measure how federal, state, and local agencies handle public funds.
He added that the results of their assessment are stark, noting that most federal ministries show little improvement and states reverting to old habits after donor programs ended.
He stressed that over 300 local governments fall into the “extreme risk” category for accountability, with only three publishing records of their spending.
“We analysed the local government, 774 of them, using eight pillars around accountability mechanism and the analysis shows that only three are categorised as low tier, meaning they have semblance of accountability. So there is low risk, there is medium risk, there is high risk, there is critical risk, there is extreme risk. Now, you have over 300 local governments in the extreme risk category.
“So, you see only three; Nasarawa local government in Nasarawa state. I think Ikeja in Lagos state and Kaduna north. I think one of the local governments also in Jigawa. So just about three or four even publishes their records. Publishing doesn’t even mean nothing has gone behind, but at least one step has been taken to publish. I will have to give them credit for even publishing,” he added.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M