Recent reports including that of Transparency International Corruption Perception Index for 2017 clearly shows that the problem of corruption in Nigeria has incensed in that last 2 years rather than recede. The Index ranks Nigeria 148th out of 180 nations it surveyed in the year 2017. This ranking showed that Nigeria has taken a deeper plunge into the murky waters of corruption from previous years’ rankings. Despite measures put in place to tackle it in the country, corruption has proved itself a multi-layered, hydra-headed and complicated phenomenon. Earlier in the year, We the People launched an Anti-Corruption Movement that utilizes a novel approach to confront the scourge by engaging young Nigerians who are motivated to participate in a series of actions designed to fight corruption.
From the 22nd – 26th of July, 2018 , 80 young Nigerians carefully selected based on their interest in resisting corruption assembled in an Anti-corruption Boot Camp at Owerri, Imo state. The Boot Camp provided space for practical learning and skills building for participants drawn from 8 states in the country including Kano, Lagos, Cross River, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and the FCT. It also created a platform for synergy, experience sharing, solidarity building among activists who are engaged in the fight against corruption. Also, resource persons drawn from the academia, law enforcement, civil society, and the media were on ground and provided theoretical and practical sessions on a wide range of topics bordering on corruption and innovative ways it can be tackled in Nigeria.
Executive Director of We the People, Ken Henshaw described the Boot Camp as an innovative strategy aimed at impacting optimally. “We arrived at the idea of a Boot Camp because we wanted to create the type of atmosphere that encourages different forms of learning. While we are deeply interested in ensuring that anti-corruption actors understand the theoretical dimensions of the problem and the fight against, we also think it is importing to arm them with the skills and tools that are necessary to engage the problem. In a residential Boot Camp, the atmosphere of informality and practicality that encourages the level of participation and hands-on learning is achieved”.
Presenters at the Boot Camp included Dr. Agada Akogwu, Head of Prosecutions of the Rivers State Branch of ICPC, Mr. Peter Aveyina, Head of Public Affairs of the ICPC, Mr. Andy Obuoforibo anti- corruption policy expert, Mr. Marshall Israel, Rivers State Commissioner of the Public Complaints Commission, the Zonal Head of EFCC, South-East Zone, Dr. Hamisu Danmusa, (represented by Mrs. Nonye Anyanele, Head of Capital Market and Insurance Unit of the EFCC), Ms. Jennifer Nkem-Eneanya, lawyer, author and social media manager, human rights lawyer Mr. Wisdom Durueke, Mr. Tijah Bolton-Akpan, Executive Director of Policy Alert and Open Government Partnership expert. Mr. Sebastian Kpalap, Executive Director of Citizens’ Initiative and Niger-Delta budget expert, and Mr. Justin Amaechi, an expert in the Freedom Of Information Act.
As part of their commitment to fight corruption, participants developed workplans and schedules to invest their learning towards improving their campaigns and advocacies to resist corruption.