By Abubakar Sadiq Malunfashi.

Nigerians have urged to recognize, uphold and applaud the courage, determination and great strides that many individuals and public sector organizations have made in improving and integrating good governance, integrity and anti-corruption in the conduct of their activities, businesses and Public Service Delivery.

Speaking with journalist in Abuja, after the presentation of his paper titled Improving Public Service in Nigeria Through Information Based Transparency; Dr. Agabaidu Bez Jideani, a Governance, Risk and Compliance expert explained that Nigeria is still blessed with public sector leaders who have demonstrated that it is possible for Nigerians and people operating in Nigeria to conduct their affairs, businesses &, offices in a manner that places premium on ethics, compliance, anti-corruption and integrity.

He requested the attendees to study and emulate Ms. Yewande Sadiku the Executive Secretary of the NIPC – Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission.

He observed that “though Nigeria has paid and continues to pay huge cost in “reputational capital” for public sector corruption, people like Yewande Sadiku have proven to be integrity champions and role models who have continued to illuminate the path to integrity and inspire others to action” such people should be recognized as such champions and role models and be applauded …”

Delivering his paper in the zoom meeting Dr. Agabaidu stated that “…This movement towards a more open government is hinged on the idea that democratic governance should be founded on citizens’ participation, access to information, transparency & accountability and the utilization of technology to resolve issues of concern to the citizens. Two major drivers of this are government reforms and advancement in information technology that enhanced citizens’ capacity to source for and access information and records.

These democratic principles of citizens’ participation in governance, freedom of expression, freedom of the press and an enhanced access to a marketplace of ideas are already enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria – 1999, in section 14(2) (a & c) declared that “Sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this Constitution derives all its powers and authority”; and that “the participation by the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution” furthermore in sections 22 and 39 respectively the constitution provided for freedom of the press and citizens’ freedom of information and ideas. Furthermore a technology-driven, information-based transparency initiative for public engagement was given fillip with the enactment of the Freedom of Information Act 2011 by the Nigerian legislation. The Act provided for the use of technology to create, maintain, update and widely disseminate government information and records – in section 2(4) the Act provides as follows “A public institution shall ensure that information referred to in this section is widely disseminated and made readily available to members of the public through various means, including print, electronic and online sources, and at the offices of such public institutions”. Consequently it is safe to state that the Nigerian Constitution and Laws provided a foundation upon which an open government could be built. In 2016 Nigeria in a bid to deepen its anti-corruption reforms joined the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and developed a first National Action Plan which implementation began in January 2017 and ended late 2019. The Second National Action Plan for 2019-2021 is presently being implemented.

The Nigerian OGP National Action Plan addresses the challenges of Public Sector Transparency; Anti-Corruption; Citizens Access to Information; Citizens Engagement and Empowerment; Inclusiveness and Utilization of Technology and Innovation to Improve Public Service Delivery.

A critical fulcrum in this National Action Plan is information based transparency. This requires the government to establish easy to use- low threshold technology platform to provide information and receive input and queries from the public. It has been noted that information-based transparency initiatives when used to promote open government provide a veritable avenue not only for improved service delivery but also to promote social and economic value through public use of government information. Transparency for our purposes should be viewed as a tool for public sector institutions to collaborate with their stakeholders to broaden participation and collaboration with citizens, enhance public trust and prevent corruption in order to deliver effective public service. Transparency initiatives serves a dual purpose, firstly it introduces the disinfecting rays of sunlight by opening a window into governance to enable citizens see and understand how government works, make contributions to what government is doing and be in a position to hold public officials and agencies accountable. Secondly public access to and knowledge of government data, information and records enable businesses to take informed decisions to generate socio-economic value… this Ms. Sadiku and NIPC achieved through a robust regime of proactive disclosure on the Commission’s website and complemented with capacity enhancement and training of all the staff of the commission on access to information and the Nigerian Freedom of Information Act…”

He stated that NIPC under Ms. Yewande Sadiku understood that the standards, regulations and policy are only the beginning and she went on to establish systems, processes and structures that are required to be in place, she established task teams and committees and assigned responsibilities to ensure actual delivery of transparent and open public service.

This she could not have done without a dedicated and conscientious group of staff at the Commission.

In conclusion he recommended that public institutions should study and emulate the NIPC and its CEO Ms. Yewande Sadiku whom he described as a person of integrity who has shown a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values whit which she led the NIPC to win the second place in Nigerian Transparency Awards as a leading public institution in Nigeria in integrity, transparency and anti-corruption.