African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) and the National Orientation Agency (NOA) embarked on an advocacy visit to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and presented a proposal on the need to report vote buying in the 2023 election through the Corruption Anonymous (CORA) whistleblowing platform.
The visit, which is a joint idea of the two organizations, sought the involvement of EFCC as one of the stakeholders in the implementation of the proposed strategy for curbing what is largely seen as a disturbing trend in the country’s electoral system.
The delegation was warmly received by Mrs. Nwanyimma Okeanu, Deputy Director, Creative Engagement, Public Affairs Department, and her team.
Nkechi Ugwu, senior programme officer (M & E) represented AFRICMIL, while Paul Odenyi, Assistant Director, led the NOA team. Odenyi gave an overview of the proposal which includes the objectives, strategy of implementation, stakeholders and the work plan.
He noted that implementing the proposal would offer an opportunity for a better understanding of vote buying and exploring new methods of engaging it
The EFCC deputy director lauded the initiative but demanded clarification on the strategy to be deployed as regards the submission and management of the reports, and whether the report will assume on-the-spot assessment because the EFCC already has such a mechanism in its agency.
Other issues raised by her team include the duplication of reports as it involves two security agencies, whether people are supposed to upload reports to both EFCC and ICPC; who takes charge of the investigation. And who collates the reports? How could reports be made promptly to security agencies and action is taken immediately? She also talked about the readiness and possibility of implementing the project three months before the election.
Based on the above concerns raised by the EFCC team, Odenyi proposed a meeting where all the stakeholders will meet to address the issues raised.
CORA is a whistleblowing project of AFRICMIL supported since 2017 by the John D. and Catherine T. Macarthur Foundation.
In July, AFRICMIL, in collaboration with Yar’Adua Foundation, unveiled the CORA citizen-driven and secure whistleblowing platform to complement other government platforms created for reporting corruption and other misconduct in the country.
