TheCable

Entrenching open, transparent and integrity-anchored public governance in Nigeria may be a long journey, going by the Transparency and Integrity Index 2023 report recently released. Its main findings show that many public institutions are still not in compliance with making necessary and mandatory information available to the people to enhance participatory public governance.

Public governance is central to the well-being of any society; hence it has always attracted attention and scrutiny. Various intervention programmes have been implemented at various levels to promote accountability, transparency and integrity in the public sector. Emphasis has been on corruption as the albatross of good public governance. The World Bank describes corruption as the single greatest obstacle to economic and social development, while Transparency International (TI), which produces the annual global Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), defines corruption as the “abuse of entrusted power for private gain.”

The World Bank, in 1996, established the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) to assess the quality of public governance in over 200 countries and territories. It identified six governance indicators, which are: 1. Voice and accountability; 2. Political stability; 3. Government effectiveness; 4. Regulatory control; 5. Rule of law; and 6. Control of corruption.  It is significant that voice – which is about giving voice to the people – and accountability are rated number one on the basis of the notion of the people’s right to know; to have access to information to enable them hold public officials accountable, with a view to enhancing public governance.

The Transparency and Integrity Index (TII), initiated in 2021 by the Center for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch (CeFTIW), seeks to address this people’s right to know by monitoring the compliance of government agencies with information disclosure, as mandated by national laws and international convention. In its report, Transparency and Integrity Index 2023, recently released, the CeFTIW stressed the need for emphasis on information disclosure in refocusing the approach to the fight against corruption. The goal of the Index is to establish the extent of compliance of public institutions – ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) – with the mandated disclosure of vital information relating to their activities on their websites and portals.

Just like the World Bank’s six Worldwide Governance Indicators, the CeFTIW assesses MDAs according to six variables. These are: 1. Website Integrity; 2. Fiscal Transparency; 3. Open Procurement; 4. Citizen Engagement; 5. Human Resources; and 6. Anti-corruption. Website Integrity demands that MDAs have websites which are constantly updated. Fiscal Transparency requires the complete and timely disclosure of budgetary and other financial documents, over a seven-year period, while under Open Procurement, tender and contract documents are to be put in the public domain. Citizen Engagement mandates public institutions to constantly interact with their publics; Human Resources and Inclusion demands fairness and representativeness in recruitments and promotions, while on Anti-corruption, public institutions are expected to implement policies in this regard and also be receptive to and collaborate with whistleblowers.

Percentage weight on variables: The TII, 2023 percentage weight allocation to the variables reflects the importance placed on each of them. These occur as:

1. Website Integrity                                   10%
2. Fiscal Transparency                              20%
3. Open Procurement                                20%
4. Citizen Engagement                               20%
5. Human Resources and Inclusion            20%
6. Anti-Corruption                                    10%

There is a basic correlation between the Worldwide Governance Indicators 1 and 6 and Transparency and Integrity Index variables 1 and 6, in which information and anti-corruption items are first and last, respectively, and with a lower weight allocation on the two – 10% each. In the TII, there is the apparent notion that if all the other intervening variables are implemented, the tendency for corruption would have been significantly reduced.

The Rankings: It is not yet Uhuru for Nigeria in terms of the attainment of an appreciable level of transparency, integrity and openness in public governance, going by the TII 2023 report. It is of limited cheer that the 2023 Transparency and Integrity Index shows the improvement to a score of 73.26% for the overall first ranked institution, as against a score of 58.74% in 2022 and 34.92% in 2021, the debut year of the Index. This is because, overall, of the 511 MDAs assessed for the 2023 ranking, only seven had an aggregate score of 50% and above, with the Development Bank of Nigeria having the highest score of 73.26%, followed by the Nigerian Investment and Promotion Commission at 63.33%, and the Central Bank of Nigeria placing third at 59.76%.

Under rankings according to variables, Website Integrity and Citizen Engagement are the two that showed the majorities –  407 and 377 respectively – of MDAs being in compliance at the scores of 50% and above. However, in the core area of fiscal transparency, only 12 institutions were found to be in compliance with the timely and comprehensive report of their budgetary and other financial documents. Open procurement has 41 institutions in compliance; Human Resources and Inclusion has seven in compliance, while Anti-Corruption has 41 institutions in adherence.

The states did not fare better than the federal MDAs. The overall ranking has Ekiti State in first position, with a score of 61.32%, followed by Kaduna (59.76%); Ondo (53.75%); Lagos (52.75%); Gombe (52.05%), and with only nine states having a score of 50% and above. On variables’ compliance ranking, 30 states were in compliance under Website Integrity; seven under Fiscal Transparency; 32 were compliant under Citizen Engagement, while only four met the compliance criteria under the anti-corruption variable. The bright light for the states is under the Procurement variable, where all the states, except Akwa Ibom, scored 50% and above, with four states ranked at 100%.

The worst-case scenario was at the local government level, where websites could only be found in seven of the 774 local governments in the country – one in Cross River State, two in Ogun State and four in Oyo State. A confounding finding from the Index is that no local government in Lagos State, the most cosmopolitan state in the country, has a website.

The annual Transparency and Integrity Index (TII) by the Center for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch is an ambitious, trail-blazing project. As a project based on content analysis, its findings can enjoy higher credibility than the perception-based Indexes, and could, over time be incorporated into globally-rated Indexes. However, it would appear the Center has set for itself a daunting task if the Index is to remain an annual production, given its coverage of the three tiers of government. Its reporting can do with some improvement too. For instance, the 2023 Index would have been better if the rankings were in context to include those of 2021 and 2022, even if only in the overall rankings.

As noted in the Executive Summary of the 2023 Transparency and Integrity Index, information disclosure is just the initial stage of strengthening the integrity of public institutions. There would be need to critically evaluate the content of the disclosure to be relevant to its target audience and be in compliance with global best practices. Here the charge to the media to take up the gauntlet is most appropriate. The media needs to be more proactive in exploiting the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011, which mandate public institutions to make updated information on their activities available to them on demand.

Olawunmi is a senior lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, Adeleke University, Ede. Osun State. Email: [email protected]