How Nigeria’s COVID-19 funds were looted — CSOs Report

79

Echoes of how COVID-19 funds were looted in Nigeria have reverberated in the civic space with a coalition of civil rights organizations, insisting that the resources did not pass through

parliamentary budget and oversight.

The organisations also said that the looting became so pronounced because there was no sincere monitoring while they were not also carried CSOs along as government was receiving COVID-19 donations or spending it.

While faulting the management of COVID-19 funds which, according to them, opened opportunities for large scale corruption due to lack of transparency and accountability, the CSOs also demanded that they should be involved in the monitoring of the implementation of the funds under the COVID-19 emergency support packages for improved transparency and accountability.

The CSOs in a report and policy brief released to Journalists in Abuja and signed on their behalf by the Executive Director of Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, said the COVID-19 funds and resources, especially donations and grants from multilateral and bilateral agencies bypassed parliamentary budget oversight and government financial management controls and processes.

The report which is product of a citizens-led survey conducted in Lagos and Ogun states by WARDC, The Innovation for change, budgetIT and TIDES, specially focused on COVID-19 funds and spending as well as data on the NCDC Covid-19 efforts.

Akiyode-Afolabi said that government’s poor financial management processes provided opportunities for corruption and lack of transparency and accountability of the funds.

The report said: “In tracking COVID-19 funds and donations in Nigeria, available evidence suggests that apart from donations and grants from multilateral and bilateral agencies, the Federal Government of Nigeria created special funds and mobilize donations for emergency response to Coronavirus pandemic in the country, to which corporate entities and private individuals contributed.

“It also shows that the funds and other resources were kept as a trust or managed through other similar arrangements, which largely remain unrecorded as they were not regarded as government revenues.

“As such, the funds and resources bypass parliamentary budget oversight and government financial management controls and processes.

“This opens opportunities for corruption and lack of transparency and accountability. Hence, the need to design an objective model or framework for managing the large-scale funds established to help addressing the socio-economic impact of Covid-19; and also serve as a form of future preparedness to prevent and mitigate fraud and corruption risks related to public health crisis management and economic rescue measures.”

According to Akiyode-Afolabi, government did not also carry CSOs along while it was receiving COVID-19 donations or spending the funds.

“Hence, the anti-corruption protocol for the Presidential Task Force in charge of monitoring procurements and financial transactions developed by ICPC for corruption in COVID-19 relief measures was not far-reaching.

“Essentially, there was poor involvement of CSOs/Local Authorities, traditional leaders by the government agencies/bodies responsible for oversight and accountability in the in the distribution of relief materials/monitoring of the implementation of the funds under the Covid-19 emergency support packages,” she said.

The CSOs stressed the need for them to be involved in the monitoring of the implementation of the funds under the COVID-19 emergency support packages for improved transparency and accountability by making them members of ad hoc committees responsible for oversight and accountability in the distribution of the relief provided.

The policy brief also called on government to improve public information on COVID-19 resources and funds received from internationally and domestic donors and publish the list of beneficiaries in the public.

79 thoughts on “How Nigeria’s COVID-19 funds were looted — CSOs Report

  1. Spot on with this write-up, I truly suppose this website needs much more consideration. I’ll in all probability be once more to read rather more, thanks for that info.

  2. Do you mind if I quote a couple of your articles as long as I provide credit and sources back to your site? My blog site is in the very same niche as yours and my users would genuinely benefit from a lot of the information you present here. Please let me know if this alright with you. Thanks!

  3. Today, I went to the beach with my kids. I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She put the shell to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is completely off topic but I had to tell someone!

  4. I feel this is one of the so much significant information for me. And i’m satisfied reading your article. However want to observation on few basic things, The website taste is great, the articles is actually excellent : D. Just right activity, cheers

  5. It is appropriate time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I want to suggest you few interesting things or advice. Perhaps you could write next articles referring to this article. I want to read more things about it!

  6. I am really loving the theme/design of your website. Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility problems? A handful of my blog visitors have complained about my website not operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Opera. Do you have any suggestions to help fix this issue?

  7. Hey! Would you mind if I share your blog with my zynga group? There’s a lot of people that I think would really enjoy your content. Please let me know. Thank you

  8. Link exchange is nothing else but it is simply placing the other person’s webpage link on your page at appropriate place and other person will also do same in favor of you.

  9. Good day! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site before but after reading through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Nonetheless, I’m definitely glad I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back often!

  10. wonderful publish, very informative. I’m wondering why the other experts of this sector do not realize this. You should continue your writing. I am sure, you have a huge readers’ base already!

  11. Unquestionably consider that that you stated. Your favourite justification appeared to be at the net the simplest thing to keep in mind of. I say to you, I definitely get irked even as folks consider concerns that they plainly do not realize about. You controlled to hit the nail upon the top as smartlyand also defined out the whole thing with no need side effect , other folks can take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thank you

  12. This design is spectacular! You obviously know how to keep a reader entertained. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Wonderful job. I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!

  13. Hey this is kinda of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding experience so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

  14. Excellent blog here! Also your website a lot up fast! What host are you the use of? Can I am getting your associate link in your host? I desire my site loaded up as fast as yours lol

  15. Pretty part of content. I simply stumbled upon your web site and in accession capital to claim that I acquire in fact enjoyed account your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing for your augment or even I fulfillment you access consistently rapidly.

  16. Greetings I am so happy I found your website, I really found you by mistake, while I was researching on Bing for something else, Anyhow I am here now and would just like to say thanks a lot for a remarkable post and a all round enjoyable blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read through it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the superb job.

  17. Hey there just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your content seem to be running off the screen in Internet explorer. I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with web browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know. The layout look great though! Hope you get the problem solved soon. Many thanks

  18. Does your website have a contact page? I’m having a tough time locating it but, I’d like to send you an e-mail. I’ve got some recommendations for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great site and I look forward to seeing it improve over time.

  19. Hi there just wanted to give you a quick heads up and let you know a few of the images aren’t loading correctly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different internet browsers and both show the same results.

  20. Wow, amazing blog format! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging glance easy. The whole glance of your site is magnificent, let alonewell as the content!

  21. Hey! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us useful information to work on. You have done a marvellous job!

  22. Have you ever thought about publishing an e-book or guest authoring on other websites? I have a blog based upon on the same ideas you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my audience would value your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to send me an e mail.

  23. Hi there! Someone in my Myspace group shared this site with us so I came to take a look. I’m definitely enjoying the information. I’m book-marking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Fantastic blog and outstanding design and style.

  24. I will right away grasp your rss as I can not find your email subscription link or newsletter service. Do you have any? Please allow me recognize so that I may just subscribe. Thanks.

  25. Hey I am so glad I found your weblog, I really found you by mistake, while I was searching on Bing for something else, Regardless I am here now and would just like to say cheers for a incredible post and a all round exciting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read through it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please do keep up the excellent job.

  26. Pretty great post. I simply stumbled upon your blog and wanted to mention that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing in your feed and I hope you write again soon!

  27. We are a gaggle of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your web site provided us with useful information to work on. You have performed an impressive task and our whole community will be grateful to you.

  28. Hello there, simply turned into aware of your blog through Google, and found that it is really informative. I’m gonna watch out for brussels. I will appreciate should you continue this in future. A lot of other people will probably be benefited from your writing. Cheers!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *