By Gabriel Ewepu – Abuja

In the bid to open up space for young people to join the fight against corruption in all sectors, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, and the Fiscal Responsibility Commission, FRC, partnered to engage university students on fiscal and extractive transparency.

This was contained in a communique signed by the two organizations and made available to Vanguard, Wednesday, where it called on students under the auspices of Student Anti-corruption Vanguards, SAVs, of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, in tertiary institutions in Lagos State.

According to the Communique the essence of the engagement was to introduce issues of transparency and accountability as a major fiscal responsibility concern in revenue and extractive resource management towards identifying opportunities for: Educating the youth on how the engagement in the campaign for a transparent and accountable public and extractive sector systems will help secure posterity; Providing a platform for students in tertiary institutions to engage practical development issues in relevant sectors of national life.

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Providing students in tertiary institutions access to knowledge that effectively complements their academic learning in preparation for active service to the nation; Providing an avenue for re-orientation for students in tertiary institutions to develop positive and constructive values and shun negative vices; and establishing a platform for an on-going, continuous engagement on other developmental themes.

Meanwhile, the Communique raised some key observations, which indicated that participants displayed general ignorance about public finance and extractives management systems, as well as anti-corruption agencies and their attendant mandates and functions, which seemed responsible for their apathy and capacity to effectively influence change in national and sub-national governance.

“Participants had however developed the rudimentary cultural attitude and technical capacity to engage issues of transparency and accountability within their tertiary institutional systems through strategic engagements with the ICPC and its partners, which could be leveraged upon for adoption and adaptation in a wider context.

“Participants showed a receptiveness and eagerness to imbibe and demonstrate the knowledge being imparted from the sessions within and beyond their spheres of influence.

“Participants acknowledged that it was imperative to recognize their role as change agents for the enthronement of sound fiscal governance practices at all levels of government by participating actively in the country’s fiscal and extractives management processes.

“Youth participation in politics was instrumental, through sensitization and awareness campaigns towards generating the interest to initiate and sustain relevant conversations on governance issues.

“Youth influencers in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) were key elements in achieving the understanding, buy-in and mobilization of the rest of the Nigerian student population and were important in the drive to mainstream fiscal responsibility in discussions amongst both serious students and the non-too-seriousness. They also had the capacity to take trending issues and conversations from the confines of their HEIs to the city – a fusing of gown with town.

Some of the recommendations include, “Student participants urged to sustain their commitments as change-agents for the enthronement of sound fiscal governance practices at all levels of government by participating actively in the country’s fiscal and extractives management processes.

“Relevant agencies with fiscal and extractives transparency mandates urged to conduct further engagements like sensitization/awareness campaigns and capacity building exercises to guide youth influencers in tertiary institutions on ways to implement their expected roles as change-agents.

“Step-down exercises between participants and their networks should be supported by CSOs and national and sub-national governments and their agencies to complement the above-mentioned sensitization and capacity-building exercises, to amplify and sustain advocacy to influence change in the country’s fiscal and extractives system architecture.

“Open data as a means of ensuring transparency and accountability in government business activities through providing correct and credible information should be readily available to students/citizens with effective feedback channels.

“Participants should further engage and access open data channels to acquaint themselves better and demonstrate their commitments towards influencing positive change in public finance management.

“The FRC should explore its Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) Conversion Strategy to advance the inclusion of fiscal responsibility in tertiary institution curricula across the country.

“There should be a strategic partnership to re-orient the youth towards generating interest in political participation for more inclusive representation that better protects their interests in governance.”

Some of the participants include representatives from the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC); Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI); Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH); Lagos State University (LASU), Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH); Federal College of Education, Akoka (FCET-Akoka); and Michael Otedola College of Primary Education, Epe (MOCPE).

Papers presented were: Open Data Transparency and Accountability in the Extractive Sector: What Holds for the next generation by NEITI; Philosophy and Background of the Fiscal Responsibility Initiative by FRC; Influencing strategies and the responsibility of the youths on prudent fiscal resource management by OXFAM; and Borrowing and Indebtedness: Why should the youths care? by FRC.

Vanguard News Nigeria