A coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) has urged presidential candidates to prioritise accountability in governmental procedures ahead of next year's general elections.
The government at all levels and important stakeholders were asked to prioritise budgetary transparency by the civil society.
Additionally, the CSOs requested the presidential contenders to outline their strategies for bolstering anti-corruption organisations and addressing gender issues.
Accountability Lab Nigeria, Connected Development (CODE), SERAP, BudgIT, CJID, Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI), Yiaga Africa, and Enough is Enough collectively released a statement with the demands (EIE).
Friday Odeh, Country Director, Accountability Lab Nigeria, spoke to reporters yesterday in Abuja on behalf of the coalition of civil society and reaffirmed the necessity for Nigeria to work toward establishing inclusive governance.
The coalition criticised the absence of publicly available information on the asset declarations of prospective political candidates.
It was noted that the absence of publicly available information regarding the financial holdings of prospective political candidates gave rise to a lack of transparency and accountability, which fueled political corruption.
“The monetisation of politics was the main headline during the political parties’ primaries and has become a pointer to how vote-buying and selling will play a disruptive role in the 2023 general elections.
“This has also affected the value of the naira, as aspirants now deal in and distribute major international currencies, especially the dollar.
“Vote-buying has become a widespread practice, where democracy has struggled to be fully consolidated due to Nigeria’s entrenched corrupt political class, trapping citizens in self-sabotaging, subservient relationships with political leaders,” the statement said.