Supporting Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)
Project description
Title: Supporting CISLAC to become Transparency International chapter in Nigeria
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Nigeria
Lead executing agency: Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)
Overall term: 2017 - 2019
Context
President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration came to power in 2015 on the promise of tackling endemic corruption. The cost of corruption equated to 1,000 USD per capita in 2014. This figure will increase to nearly 2,000 USD per capita in 2030 if political leadership fails to act in combating corrupt political, military and business elites. Endemic corruption fuels staggering levels of inequality and poverty, whereby more than two thirds of Nigerians live on less than 1.25 USD per day. In this context, the backing for the anti-corruption campaign has recently shifted from support of governmental anti-corruption agencies, towards civil society organisations representing the public against the corrupt elite. Weak law enforcement institutions, ineffective legislators and a justice system prone to corruption and political interference have not been able to tackle grand corruption, high levels of illicit financial outflows and the penetration of organised crime into the state structures.
Objective
The programme has supported CISLAC in its mission to obtain Transparency International Chapter Status and build capacity of Anti-Corruption Department of CISLAC.
Approach
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH supports CISLAC through the secondment of an integrated expert, placed by the Centre for International Migration and Development (CIM), a collaboration between GIZ and the German Federal Employment Agency. The aim is to acquire Transparency International (TI) chapter status and become part of the largest non-governmental, anti-corruption movement based in Berlin, Germany.
CIM primarily supports CISLAC in the fulfilment of criteria stipulated by the TI accreditation process to obtain official status as a TI chapter in Nigeria. Secondly, the CIM integrated expert leads the anti-corruption department to build up critical anti-corruption expertise within the organisation. Lastly, management and organisational processes are supported to strengthen CISLAC’s ability to execute international, large scale development projects.
Results
CISLAC’s analytical work on illicit financial flows and assessment of the management of asset recovery in Nigeria resulted in an invitation to the December 2017 Global Forum on Asset Recovery in Washington, DC, where discussions on repatriation of confiscated assets to Nigeria occurred. A position paper on the same topic was prepared for the 30th African Union Summit in January 2018.
In June 2017, CISLAC approved its new five-year strategic plan under the technical leadership of the integrated expert. The approval of this document signaled a milestone in focusing on public financial management, illicit financial flows, management of asset recovery, and political corruption as main sub-fields of interests under the anti-corruption agenda for 2018-2023.
In October 2018, CISLAC obtained the Transparency International accreditation through the approval of the TI global board and has become an official TI chapter in Nigeria.
The newly formed anti-corruption department in CISLAC presented a ‘Shadow’ report to the occasion of the United Nations High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) meeting in New York in June 2017. This assessment attempt provides an objective account of the progress made within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Nigeria; particularly on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16, which includes a global anti-corruption agenda. More specifically, targets chapter 16.4 (illicit financial and arms flows), chapter 16.5 (reduce bribery and other forms of corruption) and chapter 16.10 (access to information) were analysed in-depth and presented at the HLPF and the side-event to the 72nd UN General Assembly in September 2017.
CISLAC has been also requested to present its work on the anti-corruption in the defence sector and beneficial ownership in the Nigerian oil and gas sector during an official side event to the 73rd UN General Assembly in New York in September 2018 and also during the World Bank/ International Monetary Fund annual membership meeting in Indonesia in October 2018.