The Relevance of Nigeria’s Open Governance Plan

A partnership between NEITI AND NDDC will bring out the best in the interventionist agency, argues Bob Majiri Oghene Etemiku

Part of the need for governors to close ranks and work together in a regional bloc is closely related to that same reason why the NEITI and the NDDC have come together in an emerging partnership – the need for fiscal transparency, access to information and citizen engagement

Last week, very senior officials of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, (NEITI) had a very productive meeting with the newly constituted Niger Delta Development Board (NDDC) board. Four key issues emanated from a press statement released therefrom. One was the prompting from NEITI to the NDDC to carry out a corruption risk assessment to help the commission strengthen its operations. The NEITI officials also urged the NDDC to carry out an independent project implementation audit, and to commit to good corporate governance, driven through with the principles with which the global extractive industries transparency initiative is run.

I believe that these are very valid considerations and from an organisational point of view, we have thrown our weight behind the planned partnership of these two agencies. Our support for the partnership between these two agencies is not a frolicsome one, more so when you consider that many government agencies promote waste and mismanagement in the governance process by working at cross purposes. While there are records to indicate that the NDDC and other development agencies set up to accelerate development in the Niger Delta - DESOPADEC, OSOPADEC EDSOGPACED, etc., have collected billions of naira, there are no commensurate projects on ground to account for the monies collected for those projects. As a matter of fact, it has become a leitmotif for traducers of agitators for development for the Niger Delta region to be asked to justify these humongous monies and to channel their grievances elsewhere.

About a year ago, I wrote an article titled, Bring Back the BRACED Commission. In it, I wanted to draw attention to the need for the governors of the South-South in Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta - to close ranks and resuscitate the moribund BRACED Commission. Part of the need for governors to close ranks and work together in a regional bloc is closely related to that same reason why the NEITI and the NDDC have come together in an emerging partnership – the need for fiscal transparency, access to information and citizen engagement. When they work together, they close ranks, block any avenue for loopholes and engender accountability and transparency. But that has not been the case in the Niger Delta. Huge amounts allocated for development are mostly squandered. Some states in other regions like Kano State which do not produce oil have initiated and commissioned a state of the art water and sanitation project akin to the ones in Europe and America. And while governors in the North close ranks and speak with one voice, others in the South-East and South-South and South-West are throwing bricks at each other.

But the real reason why I wrote that article was because I know that there have been several meetings in the European Union (EU) towards cutting their green-house gas emissions by at least 40%. They also plan to stop buying our oil by 2030 – only 15 years from today. In those EU meetings, all 28 countries irrespective of the disparities of the languages and political philosophies resolved to boost renewable energy and improve energy efficiency by at least 27%.

By February 2015, a Southern Gas Corridor for the establishment of liquid gas hubs with multiple suppliers in Central and Eastern Europe was developed. Since most of Europe would soon depend absolutely on renewable energy – solar, biomass, wind and hydro power for their electricity needs, part of the plan of the EU Energy Union includes a full implementation of existing legislation and market rules to integrate these renewable into all European markets, and a promotion of more research into renewable energy production and the decarbonisation of the transport sector. As soon as that happens, the relevance of the Niger Delta as a regional power house, contributing to the upkeep of Nigeria would come to an end. What would be left is an environment with ecological scars.

After that article, certain Nigerians have engaged me to see how we can get the big players to come to the drawing board once again. Together, we have sought the participation of some of the well-known actors who helped birth the BRACED Commission. Unfortunately, most are unwilling to talk about the BRACED Commission and how it can assist agencies of government to accelerate development in the Niger Delta and make it the economic nerve centre of Africa. My quest eventually led me to a Vanguard report of Tuesday, January 17, 2017, with the title, Why South-South Governors Forum Collapsed. There it became clear as day that the development of the Niger Delta had been sacrificed on the altar of the political affiliations of the governors of the BRACED Commission. The argument is that the governors belong to different political parties and therefore cannot work together unfortunately.

This political challenge in the Niger Delta especially as stimulated by the feud of the political gladiators makes it difficult to expect any meaningful collaborative effort among the governors. And to that extent, we propose greater reliance on Nigeria’s Open Governance National Action Plan, envisaged to run from 2017 to 2019. President Muhammadu Buhari in the executive summary of that plan said that the plan ‘spans four key thematic areas of fiscal transparency, anti-corruption, access to information, and citizen engagement’. This is commendable. On our part, we believe that if these plans are to be as ‘concrete’ and liable to be implemented, there would be no more need for the federal government to take the NDDC from the purview of the Presidency. Rather, it should encourage the NDDC to apply the key deliverables that our National OGP plan is hinged upon: open budgeting, open contracting, revenue transparency and accountability, the publication of a register of the contractors executing projects and for what sums. Fortunately, that emerging partnership between NEITI and the NDDC has already initiated the process.