The chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has tasked lawmakers to uphold accountability and good governance.
He made the call in Abuja on Thursday at the Policy Dialogue and public unveiling of the 10th National Assembly’s Deliberative Barometer and Policy Focus Productivity Report (NASS-DBPFR).
The event, themed, ‘Legislative Governance Accountability and Productivity Index’, was organised by the Erudite Growth and Advancement Foundation (ERGAF-Africa) in collaboration with the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC).
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that NASS-DBPFR is the first of its kind to use data-driven analysis to evaluate how lawmakers perform in plenary, measuring debates, motions, bills, committee reports and other legislative actions. The report covered June 2023 to June 2024, the first year of the 10th National Assembly.
The Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, emerged as the most productive lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives for the session.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, represented by Godwin Hart, said the barometer was needed to raise the standard of representation, lawmaking and oversight by tracking legislative output.
Nigerians have repeatedly raised concerns over the lack of transparency in the legislature, especially regarding lawmakers’ earnings and project spending, a gap that continues to fuel public mistrust.
According to a statement shared on EFCC’s official X handle, Mr Olukoyede, who was represented at the event by the commission’s Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwujaren, charged the organisers to take into consideration the issue of governance and accountability of legislators.
“He observed that the report and discussions presented were silent on issues of accountability in governance,” the statement said.
But he applauded the organisers for a great job, noting that it would go a long way in addressing pressing issues,” said the EFCC statement.
According to the statement, lawmaker Bamidele Salam of Osun State, representing the four-LGA Ede North/Ede South/Egbedore/Ejigbo federal constituency, appreciated the organisers, saying leadership is about taking people to where they should be.
He stressed that citizens are more interested in the dividends of democracy and the fruits of the mandate given to legislators. He called for support from the government to ensure the sustenance of the initiative.
Abubakar Suleiman, Director-General of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, also applauded the launch of the initiative for providing data needed to evaluate the activities of the 10th Assembly.
He said, according to the EFCC statement, that accurate data and artificial intelligence would surely drive decisions that would enhance transparency and accountability in governance.
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NASS-DBPFR
Lawmakers have indicated that NASS-DBPFR functions like a scoreboard, breaking down legislative productivity into measurable data points. It assesses attendance, number of motions raised, contributions during debates, petitions presented, committee reports submitted, bills sponsored and confirmation hearings participated in.
It also maps the policy focus of lawmakers to identify where their energy is being directed, whether towards the economy, education, security or health.
ERGAF-Africa President, Chibuzo Okereke, described the platform as “a digital interactive dashboard” that allows citizens, researchers and stakeholders to track exactly what their elected representatives are doing.