Isiyaku Ahmed
The Aminu Kano Center for Democratic Research and Training, Mambayya House, has established and supported 11 anti-corruption networks in the last 12 months under the ‘Promoting Accountability and Anti-corruption through Behavior Change Approaches supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
These anti-corruption networks of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are working directly with 171 local organizations across different communities in Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara states.
The Project Director, MacArthur Foundation Project at Mambayya House, Professor Ismaila Zango made the disclosure at the 2nd biannual press conference on Thursday at the Center.
He said: “The ‘Promoting Accountability and Anti-corruption through Behavior Change Approaches’ project objective is aimed at mobilizing and educating citizens to actively engage in activities that will strengthen social accountability and improve service delivery in local communities.
“We adopted three strategies – skill building, collaboration, and gender equality and social inclusion to feature as pathways to achieving the strategic goal of the project which was crafted by the Foundation as “Reduced corruption through Nigeria-led efforts that strengthen accountability, transparency, and participation within the span of 10 to 15 years”.
In his words: “We develop stakeholders’ ability to conduct activities, and to carry out other complementary actions, including use of behavior change approaches, in their routine works on anti-corruption.
“We also build stakeholder partnerships and collaborations across and beyond grantees, in order to leverage and coordinate actions on corruption issues.
“We equally encourage the use of gender equity and social inclusion lens in selecting beneficiaries, in order to build the capacity of our sub-grantees and other partners to adopt context-specific actions that broaden and deepen the inclusiveness of anti-corruption work in Nigeria as contained in “2021 ON Nigeria 2.0 Theory of Change” approved by the Foundation.”
“To achieve the set objective, the MacArthur Foundation Project at Mambayya House target CSOs, Faith-based Organizations (FBOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs), student associations, and relevant government agencies.
“This is because we believe that if they are technically and financially supported, they can play an important role in the development of anti-corruption and good governance programs.”
The Anti-corruption Networks
The MacArthur Foundation Project at Mambayya House established, trained, and supported 11 anti-corruption networks in in 7 states (Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara).
The networks have conducted over 30 anti-corruption activities including training, town-hall meetings, advocacy, and media sensitization in more than 50 communities in their respective states.
According to Prof Zango, with the project’s support, the Northwest Civil Society Network conducted step-down training for 70 CSOs on an effective strategy to fight corruption in their respective states. Over 300 participants including women and youths directly benefited.
Also, Mambayya House encouraged and supported its implementing partners in Kano, Sokoto, and Zamfara states to collaborate and establish a good working relationship with anti-corruption agencies like the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, ICPC, and state-based agencies.
CSOs Internal Financial Control
Over 40 CSOs (women and youth groups, CBOs, FBOs, and PWDs) have received capacity training on internal accountability and transparency mechanisms such as corporate accounts, regular bookkeeping, and annual reports financial/audit reports by the project.
Prof. Zango said over 60 percent of the trained organizations have introduced regular bookkeeping and annual reports as responsible anti-corruption models as against the baseline data of 15 percent in November 2021.
He said recent data shows that the 41 member CBOs working with the Kano Community Based Organization Forum have started operating with corporate accounts and 5 of them have their audit reports for the first time.
Media Engagements
He also disclosed that the MacArthur Foundation Project under the ‘Promoting Accountability and Anti-corruption through Behavior Change Approaches’ have sponsored different packages of programs including jingles, talk shows, and special programs on selected radio stations in Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, and Zamfara states.
The media campaigns were created to raise awareness and enhance the public’s understanding of the evil of corruption, Prof Zango added.
Interface and Interaction with stakeholders
“We continue to interact and interface with different stakeholders such as state and local government representatives, formal and informal sectors, academia and grassroots through community people’s parley, interfaith engagements, and advocacy visits.
“Many of these interactions were carried out by our sub-grantees covering Enugu, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Lagos, Plateau, and Rivers states.
“In order to enhance transparency in budgetary and project processes, one of the sub-grantees in Kano, Interfaith Network Against Corruption (INAC) through its supported CSOs is currently conducting budget tracking activities in Benue, Borno, Jigawa, Kaduna, Niger, Plateau, and Zamfara State.
“Kebbi Community Action (KCA) supported by Mambayya House led the formation of “The Youth Ant-corruption Steering Committee”, which was recently inaugurated in the state. The committee was officially integrated into non-state actors’ thematic areas of the State Open Government Partnership, OGP.
“KCA was instrumental to the establishment of two functional anti-corruption clubs in Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, Aleiro, and Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic Birnin Kebbi.”
Prof Zango further said, the Coalition of Association for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment, and Development (CALPED) and Kudan Development Network under the Kaduna State Anti-Corruption Network Established by Mambayya House launched a pilot Community-Led Anti-Corruption and Accountability Project (CLAPP) In Kudan and Chikun LGAs of Kaduna State.
“They trained 18 Project monitors in two LGAs. Recently, CALPED, under the CLAPP initiative supported by Mambayya House, organized a public dialogue, and auditors of both State and local Governments were invited to increase public awareness of the audit process as a means of fighting corruption.
“With sustained engagements of the CLAPP now there is an apparent increase of community Stakeholder’s access to Audited Reports of local Governments Councils to carry out effective social accountability in the state.
“They also launched another Student-led Anti-Corruption and Accountability Program (SLAAP) THEMED:” a Fundamental Paradigm for Rebranding Mindset of Student Leaders” as a strategy of taking the anti-corruption campaign to our campuses.
“The coalition of Jigawa State Civil Society on Transparency and Accountability (JATA) has initiated a joint collaboration with the National Investment Program of Jigawa State, Media, Civil societies, and Community-Based Organizations to jointly come up with a strategy that addresses gaps in the implementation of the program across the state through advocacy, communication, sensitization, training, tracking and data visualization.
“JATA had several meetings with three (3) intervention Managers (N-Power, Government Enterprise Empowerment Program (GEEP), Conditional cash Transfer (CCT), and National Home-Grown School Feeding Program (NHGSFP), which turned out to be successful with breakthroughs through the engagement of open discussions that yielded opportunities for collaboration.
“Currently, the CCT intervention Manager has requested for collaboration with JATA to design a research proposal on the CCT Impact Assessment, also design a strategy for tracking the implementation of CCT in the state, and why it hinders positive change in the beneficiaries’ lives.
“Similarly, JATA engages Coordinators of the NHGSFP and citizens in tracking the implementation of school Feeding program enrollment rate at basic Education level in Jigawa State.
“The sustained advocacy and engagements of the JATA have resulted in new collaborations with Jigawa Radio and Jigawa TV where free airtime was secured to design and broadcast special programs on anti-corruption featuring officials of the JATA courtesy of the support given by Mambayya House under the project.”
He added that the project’s school-based programs produced more than 11 additional young anti-corruption advocates and students’ interfaith anti- corruption clubs were created by the INAC-Kano in some selected Secondary Schools plus the existing 21 active ones in Bauchi, Benue, Kano, Katsina, and Niger State totaling 36 clubs.
“Similarly, the Zamfara State Anti-Corruption Network (ZAN) with financial support trained 20 young Anti-Corruption Advocates (YAAs) mostly female students from Albayan Girls Secondary School and Samaru Secondary School in Gusau LGA of the state. The YAAs has been recognized by the school Authorities to run school-based anti-corruption clubs in their respective schools.
“Also, 30 female classroom teachers in 5 primary Schools in Gusau LGAs of Zamfara state and 20 male and female class teachers of the Right Way Concept in Birnin Kebbi were trained on basic anti-corruption messages suitable for primary schools.”
“In Kano 10 primary schools have been selected by INAC to act drama series to sensitize children about the need to imbibe the ideals and culture of a transparent and accountable lifestyle. Over 10,000 pupils are expected to benefit from the drama series.
“Publications under the project are being gradually accepted as recommended readings for school children in some northwest states.”
The project Director cited “Faith-Based Pedagogy on Anti-corruption” as instructional material in some primary and secondary schools in Kaduna and Zamfara states.
He also said two publications in the exemplary leadership series for children produced under the project entitled: Mallam Aminu Kano: A freedom fighter for the talakawa, and Maitama Sule: A Paragon of wisdom and statesmanship have been selected by the Kano State Library Board for 2022 reading competition featuring over 500 students from secondary schools drawn from the 5 Emirate Councils of the state.
Earlier, the Project Officer, Professor Moses Aluaigba said the mid-edition of this conference was held times last year to present the output of the MacArthur Project which Mambayya house has been implementing since 2018.
“We have made it a policy that every year, we must invite the media to showcase what the center has done in regards to the project.
“This year we address the result of the activities which the project design from 2021-2022 has been able to achieve.
“Mambayya House got the grant in 2018 and the project then was tagged “Converting Corruption using interface approaches.” the center was able to complete successfully that project in 2020 and luckily enough MacArthur Foundation gave another grant to the Centre to continue implementing the project from 2021-2024 titled: Promoting Accountability and Transparency through Behavior Change Approaches.”
“Mambayya House got this grant on the basis of transparency and good leadership in carrying out its vision and Mission of good governance in Nigeria.”
Answering questions from journalists on some of the challenges the project encountered, he said: “working on anti-Corruption in Nigeria is a difficult task.
“In the report, it was mentioned that we are working with a series of CBOs across the country, yet it is difficult to work with the ones that have the integrity of working transparently.
“We are looking for people whom when we give money, they will judiciously use it to accomplish its purpose.
“Majorly, the challenge is corruption itself, he added.
In his vote of thanks, the M&E Officer of the Project, Dr. Samaila Sulaiman sincerely thanked the MacArthur Foundation, sub-grantees, and partners CSOs, the media, and government agencies including the EFCC, and the ICPC for their tireless support and cooperation.
