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By Joseph Erunke, ABUJA

AHEAD of 2023 general elections,some civil society organisations in the country have asked political aspirants and parties to publicly declare their assets.

They also called on the to declare the utilization, and retiring of thelr 2019 campaign funds in compliance with sections 85- 90 of the 2022 Nigerian Electoral Act, as a sign of good faith and commitment to publishing same after the 2023 elections.

The groups which include Connected Development,CODE,Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project,SERAP, Enough Is Enough,Budgit,Yiaga Africa,Programme Leadership Support Initiative,CJID and Accountability Lab Nigeria,said these at a news conference, Thursday,in Abuja.

Executive Director, CJID,Dr Tobi Oluwatola, and Mr Oluseun Onigbinde,Global Director,BudgIT Foundation, speaking, equally demanded independence financial for the Independent National Electoral Commission,INEC.

According to them,there was also the need for the National Assembly to oversee full operational independence of INEC ahead

of the 2023 elections and yield to numerous calls for transparency regarding its budget and auditing of its finances.

These they noted, will “strengthen democracy in Nigeria through inclusive and accountable leadership with integrity and enhancing public trust in governance.”

They tasked all political parties and political aapirants to declare plans to address negative behaviours that lead to violence, such as

vote buying and publicly reject vote buying before and during the 2023 elections.

The groups asked aspirants and parties to reinforce Nigeria’s value system in line with the National Pledge, “To be faithful, loyal and honest. To serve Nigeria with all my strength. To defend her unity, and uphold her honour and glory.”

They urged the parties and aspirants to equally,”Adopt a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) approach in their

campaigns and political engagements toward inclusive governance, and a plan to advance the Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill.”

Another demand,the group said,was that the parties and aspirants must,”Declare the percentage of appointive positions for Persons with Disabilities (PDs) in line with the National Policy on disability – the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2078. “

“We also demand that the National Assembly oversee full operational independence of the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the 2023 elections and yield to numerous calls for transparency regarding its budget and auditing of its finances.

“The idea behind this is to inform and engage with political parties and potential aspirants on the journey to the 2023 election with a view to strengthening Nigeria’s democracy and making governance work for people through accountable and responsible leadership in the next administration,”the groups added.

They tasked presidential aspirants, government and critical stakeholders to prioritize accountability issues in government processes, fiscal transparency, and on plans to strengthen anti-corruption agencies and address gender challenges.

“With over 20 years of sustaining democracy, Nigeria needs to work towards achieving inclusive governance where all classes of citizens and underserved groups have every opportunity to participate in governance processes effectively.

“Despite the existence of a legal framework for asset declaration for political office holders, the level of compliance is unknown as data on asset declaration for office holders is not available to the public. The lack of public data on the assets of potential political aspirants provides an avenue for opacity and a lack of accountability; thereby fueling political corruption,”they said.

According to the groups,”The monetisation of politics was the main headline during the political parties’ primaries and has become a pointer to how vote buying and selling will play a disruptive role in the 2023 elections.”

” This has also affected the value of the Naira, as aspirants now deal in and distribute major international currencies, especially the dollar. In the last couple of weeks, the dollar to naira exchange rate peaked at N715 on the parallel market due to the undue pressure on the value of the naira.

“Vote buying has become awidespread practice, where democracy haa struggled to be fully consolidated due to Nigetia’s entienched corrupt political claas, trapping citizens  self aabotaging, subservient relationshipa with political leaders

“Nigeria cutrently ranks 123” out of 146 countrie on the World Economic Forum’s 2022 Global Gender Gap Index. It ts very disappointing that the Nigerian Senate has yet again voted down the Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill, denying women equal gender rights and preventing the implementation of measures to address discriminatory practices such as underage marriage, domestic and sexual violence and low access to education for gitls.

“The Africa Report states that similar bills have been rejected by the National Assembly at least 11 times previously, based on stiff opposition from federal lawmakers fort religious and cultural reasons. One member of the House of Representatives went so far as to wan his colleagues against giving women “too much opportunity”, Nigeria has just eight women who sit in the Senate, and most state assemblies do not have any representation of women and Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) in the State house of assembly. With the lack of diversity amongst election candidates across the country, we believe the Independent

“National Electoral Commission (INEC) should more urgently promote gender inclusion in electoral processes and in political party leadership through the INEC gender policy, the National Gender Policy, and the PWD Act. The face of most political party campaigns has shown a regrettable lack of gender-inclusive governance, with political campaigns failing to adequately represent women and persons with disabilities.

“With political parties, there seem to be limited or no plans to change behaviours and improve negative social norms. Even the vaunted “Change Begins with Me” campaign -which many thought would initiate change from the political leadership in Nigeria – did nothing to build a country where citizens are faithful, loyal and honest. This means Nigeria is stuck in a social trap and behaviour crisis where even though citizens want to live in a more honest, equitable society, they do not fundamentally trust leaders to share this aspiration and uphold the Standards of transparency and accountability in governance,”the groups further said.