Anticorruption Agencies: Analysis of 2014 Appropriation Act

Hussaini Abdu

Esther Agbon

Introduction

• The Anticorruption agencies (ACAs) were set up in the last two decades

• Due to endemic corruption in the country• Agencies include: - The EFCC- ICPC- CCB/CCT

Introduction

• The agencies are largely perceived to be weak • Their performance is often questioned by

citizens • Since 2009 there has been a surge in various

financial scams and scandals especially among senior government officials/politicians

• Most of those accused have not only gone unpunished but they have also remained in government

Introduction• This is so despite the investments by Government and

international development partners

• Alarming cases of corruption have been linked to lack of political will by government to deal with the challenge

• Consequently the corruption perception index continues to nose dive

• Nigeria ranks 144th on the corruption index out of 177 countries surveyed

Introduction

• The ACAs are not autonomous• They depend on government for funding • They sometimes lack the political will to

investigate public officials percieved to be powerful

• ACAs are amongst poorly funded agencies• Some of the ACAs have admitted to lack of

tools, equipment and expertise to tackle the problem

Objective of Analysis

• To determine government’s commitment to fighting corruption

• To show how well government is ready to empower anticorruption agencies to discharge their statutory functions without resource constraints

• To highlight the funding pattern of ACAs in the last three years

2014 Proposal Vs ActProposal Recurrent Capital Total

ICPC 4,542,989,874 132,897,643 4,675,887,517

EFCC 8,838,694,493 1,406,674,677 10,245,369,170

CCB 1,856.158,560 1,006,147,091 2,862,305,651

CCT 460,229,424 52,440,642 512,670066

Act Recurrent Capital Total

ICPC 4,542,989,874 132,897,643 4,675,887,517

EFCC 8,838,694,493 3,406,474,677 12,245,169,170

CCB 1,856,158.560 1,006,147,091 2,862,305,651

CCT 460,229,424 252,440,642 712,670,066

Total ACAs

20,496,232,404

EFCC

- Established by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) act in 2004

- EFCC’s mandate is to prevent, investigate,

prosecute and penalise economic and financial crimes.

- to enforce the provision of laws and regulations relating to economic and financial crimes

Funding trend analysis 2011 -2014

EFCCIn 2009 EFCC budget was N20bn

5 years later the budget reduced by a little less than half –N12bn

Sadly only N177m is voted for security operations,N128m for publicity in 2014

The bulk of capital ?

Pattern of allocation within the ACAs

Budgeted Vs Actual

ICPC

• The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission was established in 2000 by an act

- to receive, investigate reports and prosecute offenders

- examine, review and enforce the correction of corruption prone systems and procedures of public bodies

- educate and enlighten the public on and against corruption related offences

Funding trend analysis 2011 -2014

ICPC-Capital budget is N132m

-N122m is for office building

-N10m for security equipment

-N90m for publicity

-N48m for training

-The task of investigation and prosecution will be very difficult with this budget

Budgeted Vs Actual

CCB&T

• Set up by The Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal (CCB&T) act of 1990

- to establish and maintain a high standard of public morality in the conduct of government business

- to ensure that the actions and behaviour of public officers conform to the highest standards of public morality and accountability.

Funding trend 2011 -2014

CCB-Reports from CCB admit inadequate funds to execute mandate-Lack capacity and resources to verify declarations made by public officers-Votes N120m for public enlightenment,N70m for capturing of asset declaration forms --N230m monitoring across 36 states

Pattern of allocation within the ACAs

Budgeted vs Actual

Funding trend 2011 -2014

Pattern of allocation within the ACAs

Pattern of allocation within the ACAs

Comparing Allocations

• The ACAs budget put together is less than half of what the National Assembly, Ministry of Niger Delta or Amnesty program get annually

Comparing Allocations

Capital Allocations for ACAs Vs select FCT capital projects

Except for EFCC, Projects of someagencies fare better than the capital budgets of ACAs

Conclusion• ACAs budget mainly service

salaries and overheads

• The present allocations cannot tackle the magnitude of corruption in the country

• ACAs are dependent on bilateral and development partners contributions to support its programmes

• ACAs pattern of budget allocation are traditionally skewed like that of other MDAs

• The actual releases show governments poor commitment towards the fight against corruption

• The government should allocate more funds to ACAs if it really wants to address the problem of corruption

Recommendations• Government should prioritize

ACA funding and make intervention funds available to support them

• Government should fund ACAs adequately

• ACAs should desist from traditional administrative allocations that do not contribute meaningfully to their mandate

• ACAs should demonstrate to the public their commitment to fighting corruption by investigating and prosecuting sensational cases

• ACAs must develop efficient absorptive capacity for funds utilization by building adequate capacity in that respect

• Government must play the lead role and show political will to fight corruption