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By Amaechi Okonkwo
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has urged the media in Nigeria to amplify the need for government to take active measures against the prevalence of dirty money in the nation’s political system.
The centre said the call was made imperative as the absence of such measures has enabled politicians to continue to massively infringe on political integrity and accountability, and thus encouraging the incidences of vote buying and selling in the country’s political system.
Executive Director, CISLAC, Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani, made the call in Port Harcourt at the weekend during a workshop for journalists on ‘Political Integrity and Political Party Accountability Reporting.’
The workshop which was made possible through the ‘Strengthening Accountability Networks Among Civil Society, SANCUS’ project saw journalists enlightened on topics like: ‘The Need for Political Integrity and Transparent Political Party Financing;’ ‘Techniques in Reporting and How to Navigate Challenges faced by Journalists;’ and ‘How Journalists Can Report Budget Padding and Misuse of Constituency Project.’
He charged the media not to abandon its role of the watchdog of the society, adding that it was important for the media to remain in the vanguard of exposing politicians infringing on the political integrity of the country.
Rafsanjani warned that failure to make the political process free of dirty money financiers would continue to prevent the nation from seeing any positive political development, promising that CISLAC would continue to work with civil society organisations and the media to ensure there is proper accountability in the system.
“Transparency cannot continue to be undermined in the political system”, he stated, pointing out that the widespread insecurity witnessed in the country was being fueled by corruption in the system.
He identified corruption in the political system as the major reason the security of Nigeria has not improved despite the huge annual financial allocation to the sector. He therefore urged all stakeholders to work in synergy to dismantle the process of corruption in the system.
In his presentation on the ‘Need for Political Integrity and Transparent Political Party Financing,’ Vaclav Prusa, CISLAC consultant who made his presentation via zoom advocated for CSOs to monitor compliance to political integrity, monitor campaign/political spending and follow money in politics.
He added that the CSOs should press for and also extract anti-corruption pledges from political parties and politicians, especially during election periods, as well as educated the public about political integrity and how to demand it from their representatives at all levels.
