The Executive Director, African Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Rev. David Ugolor has called on organizations to collaborate in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.

He made the call while delivering a keynote address at the roundtable on Behavioural Insights and Policy Making in Nigeria on September 3, 2018, in Abuja.

Rev Ugolor emphasized the need for organizations to build alliance to see how recovered loots can be monitored and managed in an accountable and transparent way. He pointed out that the challenge in fighting corruption is that we need to look at new approaches to enhance the fight against corruption in the country.

According to him, the roundtable was designed to examine the gaps in anti-corruption policy development and implementation in Nigeria and whether such policy development takes into account behavioural insight.

He noted that the new thinking now is that anti-corruption work should tend towards targeting change in social norms which encourage corruption. This he said is in addition to existing efforts and strategies carried out so far.

According to him, the secret of this approach is that it increases citizens’ participation in the fight against corruption and adopting such approach could make citizens build a strong resistance to corrupt behaviours.

The Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria, Ene Obi, in her address urged Nigerians to be heuristic and show collective will in fighting corruption, adding that the country should put those words in our national anthem.

The Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) in its intervention noted that we all have a role play as individuals in fighting corruption in our little spaces. Gary Kelechi Amadi, Programme/Research Officer, who represented PACAC pointed out that safe havens are very important issues to tackle in fighting corruption.

The president, Centre for Citizens with Disabilities, in his speech stated that persons with disability are not adequately represented in the fight against corruption. He noted that “corruption is killing people with disabilities daily,” therefore there is the need to include the disability perspective in the fight against corruption in the country.

The roundtable targeted participants from Development Agencies/Diplomatic Community, Media, CSOs and MDAs. It was jointly organized by African Network for Environmental Justice (ANEEJ) in partnership with ActionAid Nigeria. INTEGRITY and other organizations also presented papers at the roundtable.

AFRICMIL was represented at the roundtable my Nkechi Ugwu.