RWI Coordinator Discusses Social Accountability and Good Governance in New Book

In June, the World Bank published Demanding Good Governance: Lessons from Social Accountability Initi... (pdf)—a collection of case studies from across the continent that showcases citizen campaigns to enhance government accountability and transparency. Revenue Watch Institute's Dauda Garuba and co-author John G. Ikubaje contributed a chapter, "The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and Publish What You Pay Nigeria," highlighting a lesson in government and civil society cooperation.

Social accountability initiatives—citizen and civil society actions to hold government accountable, media campaigns to educate the public on the importance of extractive and transparency issues, and government efforts to help promote these efforts—are essential parts of Revenue Watch's work. As Nigeria Program Coordinator, Garuba has underscored this commitment through his leadership of the Bayelsa Expenditure and Income Transparency Initiative (BEITI), a successful example of transparency advocacy at the regional and local level.

Garuba talked more about his contribution to the book.

What makes the experience of African countries an important lesson about social movements for good governance?
Consider where Africa is coming from on issues of resource management and resource conflicts—whether on how resource economies are managed, or how governments have mobilized resource wealth to prosecute wars. The literature on conflict in Africa has discussed this in terms of greed or grievance.

But the larger issue is that government should exist for the benefit of the people. It should provide electricity, roads, education, health and other basic services. People talk of a failed state when these are lost. This is what happened in Somalia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In recent years, we've had the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Good Governance, which recognizes excellence in African leadership. What is worrisome is that for two years running, no one has been found qualified for the award. In a continent of 53 countries, many of which are supposedly committed to the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), this is an indictment of African leaders' governance credentials. It makes a strong case for the necessity of African civil society to engage all levels of government to deliver on the social contract made with the people.

Can you explain the idea of social accountability initiatives?
Social accountability is about a wide range of citizens' actions that become a collective effort. It involves government, civil society, the people and independent media, seeking accountability from public officials. It could be projects like budget monitoring, citizens' report cards, community score cards or public expenditure tracking surveys.

Describe the focus of your chapter: a case study of Nigeria's EITI implementation and PWYP coalition.
Our goal was to look at the EITI and PWYP processes in Nigeria, and what innovations were made in the drive for transparency and accountability, to give context for the argument that good governance can reduce the extremes of wealth and poverty, power and disempowerment.

More broadly, we considered the problems Nigeria faces with regard to corruption, poverty and uneven development, and how the country has moved from an agricultural economy to a rentier economy—one now almost entirely dependent on oil for survival.

We also highlighted the major challenges in the EITI implementation process, as well as its successes. Those successes include the first and second ever major audits of Nigeria's oil industry. As a result, we've seen improved public involvement. For the first time, people ask questions about what is going on in the oil industry. This is a major achievement.

How did Nigeria's government and civil society cooperate on these accountability initiatives?
The EITI process set the pace for civil society collaboration with the government. It requires civil society representation in the multi-stakeholder working group (MSG), a key part of the EITI process.

Despite controversy over the government's appointment of the civil society MSG representative (rather than allowing civil society to nominate its own delegate), a memorandum of understanding was eventually reached between the Nigerian EITI Secretariat (NEITI) and civil society. To me that was a great step forward.

Tell us about the recent corruption allegations in NEITI, and how they might impact Nigeria's EITI validation process?
The corruption allegation levied against the immediate past Executive Secretary of NEITI is unfortunate. It's very disappointing to see an organization that was set up to monitor transparency and accountability be accused of the type of misconduct it was created to prevent. I expect an investigation of the allegations, and where necessary, appropriate actions to be taken by the authorities.

What's the importance of social accountability initiatives?
There are many social accountability tools, but the decision of which tools to use is one that should be made by government, independent media and the civil society. In social accountability work, I've learned that it's not always about corruption. It could be about misapplication of resources or something good that the government is not yet doing. Because we provide opportunities for meetings between government and citizens, the government can learn what people think, and how best to solve problems.

LEARN MORE

• Demanding Good Governance: Lessons from Social Accountability Initi... (pdf)
• NIGERIA: Halliburton, Bribes and the Deceit of "Zero-Tolerance" for...
• Nigerian Oil Savings Fund Requires Strong Protections, Revenue Watc...
• Bayelsa State Leads Fight for Responsible Government in Niger Delta...
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