Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Anambra State under the aegis of Consortium For Fiscal Transparency (CFT) have sought the partnership of the State House of Assembly lawmakers on project monitoring and implementations to engender transparency and accountability in the governance of the state.
The need for collaboration arose during an advocacy visit by the group to the Speaker of the Anambra State Assembly, yesterday (Tuesday).
Speaking on behalf of the CSOs, Mrs Ugochi Freeman of Creative Minds Center for Youth and Community Development expressed concerns that most of the projects awarded in the state are either poorly implemented or abandoned by the contractors because of poor oversight monitoring on the part of the legislative and the executive arms.
She said the advocacy visit was also to call for the speedy passage of the Audit Law and the review of other relevant anti-corruption laws such as the Public Complaint Anti-corruption Agency Bill which she said is already on the floor of the Assembly.
“We are also advocating the speedy passage of the state Audit law and the full implementation of the public policies that had been passed into law.”
“We solicit the participation of CSOs in all the public hearings including the public hearing of the Public Accounts Committee of indicted MDAs in the Auditor General’s Report.”
“We also want proactive follow-up on the resolution of the House on Auditor General’s Report and the increased level of transparency and accountability operational in the utilisation of public resources and implementation of public policies across MDAs.”
“It is our wish that the constituency projects of the honourable members of the Assembly be captured in the budget document and open contracting portal. Also, we solicit that constituency projects of every honourable member be captured in the yearly budget and proactive disclosure of such projects in the e-procurement portal of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) for easy tracking by citizens.
While Ugochi commended the Assembly for being alive to create relevant laws for the advancement of the state, she said such collaborations would enable CSOs to relay to lawmakers the findings of their monitoring to take stringent actions against defaulters in the state.
She further urged the speaker to make his office more effective by ensuring the utilisation of public resources and policy implementation, noting that such will give room for a more open, transparent, and accountable public finance management in the state.
Responding, the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Somtochukwu Udeze, commended the CSOs for their efforts to enthrone good governance, adding that the State Assembly is open for partnerships that will promote culture of transparency and accountability in the state.
“The visit is impressive and I feel encouraged by the areas you have covered. All that we need in the Assembly is information because we work with the information before us. Once we get the right information, we would make use of it.
“There are some laws that need to be changed and we are trying to repeal some of the mundane laws.
“You may find out that we still make use of some laws that were enacted during the days of old Anambra and that is what the present administration is trying to improve on.”
The speaker said there is need for continual interaction with the CSOs to feed the assembly with information on issues of accountability and monitoring of projects in the state.
