• expresses concern over lack of transparency in ecological fund spending
• Releases assessment report on GGWI Implementation in Nigeria
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
In a call to action, the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre/Transparency International (CISLAC)/TI-Nigeria, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, has urged the federal government to take immediate and decisive steps to address the growing issue of insecurity in the country, particularly as it pertains to the ongoing conflict between farmers and herders.
He made the call at a Stakeholder Consultative Forum and the launch of “Report on Assessing the Implementation of the Great Green Wall (GGW)”, aimed at assessing the extent of the implementation of the Great Green Wall Initiative in Nigeria and use of climate funds allotted to the initiative.
According to him, the ongoing violence and instability caused by bandits and other criminal elements have had a significant impact on food security in Nigeria, with farmers facing increasing challenges in growing crops and producing food for the nation.
“We are at risk of food insecurity in Nigeria as a result of the lack of an enabling environment for farmers to grow crops in their farms and produce food to feed the nation,” Rafsanjani said.
He also called on the government to take necessary action around the issue of forced migration, which has caused a lot of conflict between herders and farmers.
“We think it is important for the government to take necessary action around the issue of forced migration which has caused a lot of conflict between herders and farmers and therefore stay away from politics of dealing with this issue of farmers herders conflict because it has taken lives and deprived so many Nigerians from carrying out their lawful businesses, whether herders or farmers,” Rafsanjani added.
The Executive Director’s call to action comes at a time when Nigeria is grappling with multiple security challenges, including terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping, which have had a significant impact on the country’s economy and social fabric.
He said: “We want government to take drastic measures against bandits that have been terrorizing farmers and as a result impacted on food security in the country.”
He also called on the government and the National Assembly to prioritize financing for erosion, land degradation and all issues that has do do with mitigating climate change.
“We need to make sure that climate change receives the necessary financing and attention in order to secure this country”.
Rafsanjani, also emphasised the critical need for transparency in the utilization of ecological funds in Nigeria.
He highlighted the alarming trend of misappropriation and misuse of ecological funds, a vital resource meant to protect the environment and communities.
He warned against the detrimental impact of unchecked greed and corruption, stressing the importance of government intervention to prevent further exploitation by a select few.
He said: “We think it is also important, ecological funds are transparently spent in this country. A lot of looting and diversion allegedly on ecological fund has happened and therefore, it is important that government take necessary measures to ensure that things that affect the people and the environment and the community are not taken away by some few selfish individuals. Because, we need to ensure that we secure our land. If the land is not protected, then it will create multiple problems in this country.”
Rafsanjani said, CISLAC as national chapter for Transparency International (TI), seeks to contribute to the success of the Great Green World Initiative (GGWI) through reinforcing aspects of transparency, accountability, integrity, participation, and anti-corruption.
Touching on some key recommendations of the report, the CISLAC boss said: “Some of the key recommendation that we are putting for policy implementation is to ensure effective stakeholders engagement by defining decision making processes and level of authority and promoting adequate representation of all stakeholders in the GGW (Great Green Wall) decision make process,
“Secondly, we are also recommending that there’s need to strengthen the mechanism for ensuring in compliance with GGW regulations and foster public participation through community engagement and awareness campaign.
“Equally important, we are also calling on government to implement a robust conflict of interest policy and establish a well publicised whistleblower protection programme and user friendly compliant mechanism with the support of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
“We are also recommending to government to conduct comprehensive need’s assessment to identify specific skills gaps and tailored capacity programme accordingly by ensuring that training opportunities are accessible, relevant, tailored stakeholders needs.
“We are also very importantly, recommending ensuring transparency communication channel to encourage stakeholders feedback, suggestions and active participation in the GGW initiative, especially for marginalized groups.
“We are also recommending to government to create a clear criteria and procedure for engagement and define this at local, national level.
“National agency should develop a participation framework to ensure local communities involvement in planning and implementation.
“We recommend that government should also strengthen the monitoring and evaluation framework by identifying and addressing gaps or inconsistencies in the data collected to ensure a more comprehensive picture of GGW initiatives and their outcomes.
“More importantly, we are also recommending more transparency in this process because if the process is marred with corruption, it will undermine the whole essence of what government is trying to do.
“Again, we are calling on government to ensure effective climate change financing because, if not we will continue to have challenges around issues of land degradation, erosion, farmers inability to produce crops.
“Lastly, it’s to call on civil society organisations at local and state levels to intensify efforts to ensure they participate and monitor this process. The CSOs need to contribute to ensure that the implementation and the framework of this is actually achieved.
“These are some of the highlights of our recommendation to government and we believe if taken it will help improve the implementation of this framework.”
Alice Kanu (National Agency of the Great Green Wall), while commending CISLAC for the report, stressed the need for government to prioritize funding for climate change mitigation projects, which is a serious project to Nigeria, changing the degradable land to arable land, making it comfortable for farmers and those that have been displaced from their settlement due to land degradation to go back to their settlement.
Joseph Akaager (ActionAid Nigeria), lauded the initiative. He said the importance of climate justice in Nigeria can not be overemphasized. He call on all state actors to note that this is the necessary time for action, hence the need for everyone to ensure that projects on climate justice are properly funded.
The researcher, Shamshudeen, who said the project took two months to complete, listed key recommendations from the report he will emphasise for government’s implementation to include: ensuring that necessary funds are made available to key agencies, stakeholders engagement cutting across ministries, agencies and departments, civil society organizations, and deployment of effective monitoring and evaluation strategy.