The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) on Tuesday inaugurated the 2022 anti-corruption shadow report on progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 16 in Nigeria.

SDG 16 is about peace, justice and strong institutions.

The SDGs Shadow Report 2022 was launched on the sidelines of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

Regarding the report, CISLAC executive director, Auwal Rafsanjani, said there were improvements in two indicators in 2022 in measuring SDG 16 compared to three in 2021 and six in 2019.

“This improvement, which can be seen in the policy areas of money laundering and asset recovery, is attributed to the passage and assent into law of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill and Proceeds of Crime Management Bill in May 2022,” said Mr Rafsanjani.

However, he said, the lack of progress on other indicators could be attributed to three major factors, including the worsening insecurity across Nigeria. The second factor, he said, was the high level of corruption amidst an increase in national debt, including the government’s actions against freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

“As seen in the 2021 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released globally by Transparency International where Nigeria scored 24 out of 100 points, which is its worst since 2012 when the methodology of the CPI was reformed,” the CISLAC boss pointed out.

He also mentioned revenue generation as another concern for the country, “which has led to an enormous increase in borrowing.”

“Official data have shown that Nigeria had a revenue of N1.63 trillion in the first quarter of 2022, which was not even enough to pay the debt of the country for that quarter which was at N1.94 trillion,” Mr Rafsanjani noted.

He stressed that “our position is that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will become most challenging where there is no solution to the aforementioned challenges.”

The report, the fifth edition of a series of annual shadow reports, seeks to measure Nigeria’s progress on SDG 16, specifically targeting 16.4, which deals with anti-money laundering. SDG 16.5 looks at beneficial ownership, and 16.10 looks at access to information.

This report was prepared using a Transparency International global template, which helps cross-chapter comparisons amongst countries.

CISLAC produced the report as Transparent International Nigeria, seeking to improve democratic accountability of public institutions and anti-corruption deficits by Strengthening Accountability Networks among Civil Society (SANCUS), supported by the European Union.

(NAN)