ANEEJ ENDORSES NDDC/UK MoU PACT, INSISTS ON OPEN BUDGETS IN NDIs
Press Release
17th May, 2017
ANEEJ ENDORSES NDDC/UK MoU PACT, INSISTS ON OPEN BUDGETS IN NDIs
With the signing of more partnerships like this one by the NDDC and the UK to improve on the ability of the NDDC to deliver on its mandate, we are convinced that in a very short while, lasting and tangible development with take place in the Niger Delta’
Benin City, Nigeria…The Africa Network for Environment & Economic Justice, ANEEJ, has again risen to commend the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, on reaching a deal with the UK to improve the Commission’s service delivery in the Niger Delta using the Facility for Oil Sector Transparency and Reforms, FOSTER, and the Market Development Project in the Niger Delta, MADE.
‘With the signing of more partnerships like this one by the NDDC and the UK to improve on the ability of the NDDC to deliver on its mandate, we are convinced that in a very short while, lasting and tangible development with take place in the Niger Delta’, said the Rev David Ugolor. ‘About three months ago when the NDDC signed a similar memo of understanding with the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, NEITI, ANEEJ said that a partnership between a regulator and the agency it regulates had the potential to help firm up the enthronement of transparency and accountability in the operations of the NDDC and stimulate the development of the region. https://www.aneej.org/neitinddc-partnership-boost-transparency-aneej-affirms/
The NDDC apart from all the other Niger Delta Institutions has opened its budget on its website, perhaps in conformity with the Federal government’s commitment with openness and transparency in the conduct of government business. In July 2016 in the UK, the Federal government of Nigeria signed on to the Open Government Partnership, OGP.
‘We want to use this occasion to once again call on other Niger Delta institutions like DESOPADEC, EDSOGPADEC and the Ministry of the Niger Delta to open up their budgets in line with the Federal government commitments to the Open Governance Partnership, OGP, Action plan which highlights access to information, Anti-corruption/Assets disclosure, Citizen’s engagement and empowerment, Fiscal transparency, improved public procurement and open contracting measures. If the budget of a development agency set up by government to embark on development projects is obscure or opaque, it creates fiscal recklessness in the budgetary framework of the Niger Delta institutions’, the Rev Ugolor has said.