By John Ikani
The Center for Fiscal Transparency & Integrity Watch (CeFTIW), a non-partisan organisation established with the aim of promoting accountability, transparency within public sector and ensuring good governance at all levels, has ranked Kaduna, Ekiti and Kwara as the top three states in its 2021 Transparency and Integrity Index (TII).
The states were said to be in compliance with laws that mandates them to disclose their activities proactively.
The ranking was disclosed in a 107-page report.
According to the latest ranking, Kaduna State recorded the highest score of 76.67 per cent and was ranked first. The northern state was closely followed by Ekiti and Kwara states, with scores of 73.33 per cent and 65 per cent and ranked second and third respectively. Kano (60%), Oyo (60%), Taraba (58.33) followed in that order. Among the south-eastern states, Ebonyi led with a score of 35 per cent and took the 23rd position.
On the other hand, Niger State with 20 per cent score was ranked 34th, followed by Sokoto and Zamfara States with 16.67 per cent score and jointly ranked 35th respectively. They were the bottom three states least complying with the TII variables.
The report showed that out of the 36 states, 33 have published budget allocations, 31 states have published budgets implementation reports, and 30 states have published their financial audit reports.
It also revealed that 20 states published the list of its awarded contracts within 2016 -2020 period and 19 states disclosed the list of the contractors.
The findings also showed that 35 states have procurement institutions and laws.
“Despite the crucial importance of having anti-corruption laws and policies, our finding shows that only five out of the 36 states have enacted laws on anti-corruption and anti-bribery. Our findings also show that out of the 36 states, only three states domesticated the Freedom of Information (FOI) Law.
“However, all the 36 states have communication channels (feedback forms and social media account(s) to facilitate citizens’ engagement.
“On local government transparency, out of the 36 states, eight published local governments’ budget, 19 states published reports of the accountant general on local government accounts, and two states published information on local government procurement,” it added.
Furthermore, the report showed that among the government institutions, the Family Homes Fund Limited was ranked the highest with a score of 34.92 per cent. It was ranked first because it was adjudged the institution most complying with the TII variables.
It was followed by nine other institution in the top ranking namely: Nigerian Extractive Industry Initiative, ranked second with 33.37 per cent score; Petroleum Product Price Regulatory Agency, third with 32.48 per cent score; Development Bank of Nigeria, fourth with 30.60 per cent score; the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, fifth with 29.74 per cent score; and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, sixth with 29.48 per cent score.
Others were the National Agency for the Control of Aids, seventh with 29.09 per cent score; Central Bank of Nigeria, eight with 28.95 per cent score; the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, ninth with 28.37 per cent score; and Nigerian Port Authority, 27.7 per cent score.
The report stated that the least effective institutions complying with the TII variables were: Federal Medical Center Ebutte Metta; National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency, W.U Federal Polytechnic Birnin Kebbi, and Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, jointly occupying 425th rank with 1.79 per cent score. According to the report, they were followed by the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria, ranked 429th with 1.61 per cent.
In addition, it stated that institutions with complete non-compliance were the Directorate for Technical Cooperation in Africa; National Troupe of Nigeria; Federal College of Agriculture Ibadan, Oyo State; Federal College of Wildlife Management, New Bussa, Niger; Anambra – Imo River Basin Development Authority; Benin – Owenna River Basin Development Authority; Cross – River River Basin Development Authority; Chad Basin River Basin Development Authority; and Hadejia Jama’are River Basin Development Authority.
It listed others to include Ogun – Osun River Basin Development Authority; Niger – Delta River Basin Development Authority; Gurara Dam Management Agency; Federal University Dutsin-ma, Katsina; Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko Delta; N.A Institute of Technology & Environmental Sciences; Project Development Institute; FCT College of Education Zuba and Institute of Archeology And Museum Studies and Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding In Nigeria.
The institutions jointly occupied the 430th rank, with zero per cent score.
“Generally, the performance of all the institutions is very poor. The score all the institutions is below average,” it added.
In ranking the ministries’ performance, the TII stated that Ministry of Aviation (23rd in the overall ranking) garnered the highest score of 23.25 per cent and was ranked first. It was closely followed by the Ministry of Health (29th in the overall ranking), which took the second position. The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development (41st in the overall ranking) occupied the third rank with 19.92 per cent score.
