CISLAC Advocates Civilian Oversight to Foster Defence Accountability

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, has stressed the need for Nigerians to demand answers for the expenditures made in the country’s defence and security sector.

CISLAC made this known in Enugu, during a ‘One-Day Civil Society Steering Committee Coordination Meeting on Defence Accountability and Civilian Oversight’.

The meeting was aimed at identifying and assessing the progress that has been made so far in promoting defence accountability and civilian oversight, in the South East.

Participants were drawn from the five States in the region.

Ms. Bertha Ogbimi, Programme Officer of CISLAC, who represented the Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwalu Musa Rafsanjani, observed that the Nigerian government has been investing a lot of money into the defence sector, without any commensurate result, since 2010.

She asserted that when resources are not utilized judiciously, the country and its people are exposed to a lot of threats.

She said: “Corruption in defence is dangerous, divisive and wasteful and we, as citizens have roles to play in ensuring that our nation is not referred to as a Banana Republic”.

Ogbimi, however disclosed that the Nigerian government is now opening up on information that is needed by the public, on defence and security matters.

“It is also heartwarming to see that erring officers are now being punished for infringing on human rights,” she said.

Head of the Monitoring and Evaluation Department at CISLAC, Mrs. Lovelyn Agbor-Gabriel, who spoke on ‘Advocacy Strategies and Commitments Towards Result-Oriented State Based Advocacy,” explained that non-state actors need to move away from the regular attack system when tackling state issues with the government or other responsible bodies.

She opined that “constructive dialogue will help, as the state and its actors will see us as partners and feel comfortable enough to collaborate”.