By Dayo Oluyemi-Kusa
Paper presented at the round-table on “Anti-corruption,
economic & financial crimes for women groups (North-central zone): How
women’s organizations can aid the fight against corruption, economic &
financial crimes”, held in Abuja, 11th August, 2014. The event was organised by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Nigeria in partnership with the African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL).
Introduction
For women to play an active role in the
anti-economic and financial crimes sector, they need to be mainstreamed into
the process. Mainstreaming women is the process of taking cognizance of the
implications for women of any planned action, including legislation, policies
and programs in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making
women’s issues and input non-negotiable parts of the design, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs.
Like in other areas of social interaction, women could
be more active in the mainstream of the anti-economic and financial crimes
crusade (AEFCC) in Nigeria. Women, however, need to be incorporated into the
whole process.
Why women should
be involved in AEFCC processes
There are four key points put forth in support of
the increased participation of women in the AEFCC. Firstly, across the world,
women’s experiences in the AEFCC are different from those of men. Increasingly,
women feel that their perspectives should have equal weight in the AEFCC. There is a shared notion that women as over
fifty percent of the electorate, have an overwhelming claim to participation in
decision-making, not in terms of their racial, ethnic, political or communal
identities, but in terms of their gender.
Secondly, despite their low visibility in the
political and public arena, women are nevertheless influential in society. As
educators, nurses, community workers, farmers and parliamentarians, as mothers,
wives and sisters – as individuals – they play a crucial role in shaping
society.
Thirdly, they are effective in mobilizing other
women and building consensus for co-operation and partnership in the AEFCC.
Ignoring their voices and overlooking their experiences could mean that practical
and successful anti-corruption strategies and key ingredients necessary for
long-term economic and financial fidelity are omitted from the process.
Fourthly, time and again, around the world, women
who themselves have been victims of economic and financial crimes (419) or who
have suffered the humiliation of seeing a friend or relative convicted of
economic crime, have taken up the anti-corruption war in their own little
corners. They face the threats and abuses from their own communities as a
result of their anti-corruption campaign. The women’s determination and
perseverance should not be underestimated.
Fifthly, women who have been tried and convicted
of economic and financial crimes need to be identified as being incapable of
mentoring younger members of the society, in spite of their academic, social, political
and sundry achievements. The message should be loud and clear: “public or
private sector office is a trust, don’t abuse it!.”
The need for a
Network of female stakeholders
It follows, therefore, that for the AEFCC to be
durable and sustainable, it is necessary for women to go beyond doing their bit
in their little corners and form a Women Anti-corruption Network (WAN), which
could be an umbrella body for all women working in the areas of anti-corruption,
anti-graft, legislating against corrupt practices, etc. Such a platform,
working in tandem with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),
would go a long way in sensitizing the populace as regards what constitutes
graft, economic and financial crimes.
Roles for women
in AEFCC processes
The fight against economic and financial crimes
needs to become more proactive. Such crimes should be prevented. Prevention is
always better than cure. Modalities should be put in place in the form of
advocacy and counseling. This is an area where women can play a vital role. As
mothers and nurturers, women can socialize children and young adults to shun
economic and financial crimes.
This can be done by encouraging children to be
honest in their dealings with their peers, seniors and juniors, and not “pinch”
property which does not belong to them. Children should be taught to be
satisfied with what their parents or guardians can provide. These are the
leaders of tomorrow, and if they imbibe these ideals early, economic and
financial crimes could be prevented.
Mainstreaming
women into the AEFCC agenda
Mainstreaming women into the AEFCC is important
because she bears the brunt if the husband or any other member of the family is
indicted for corruption. There should be a multi-faceted approach to
mainstreaming women into the AEFCC VIZ; accountability, networking, cultural
values, equality of the sexes, goal/framework, local units, focal points,
monitoring and evaluation of the plan, data and statistics, major activities
required, situation analysis, consultative meetings, expert working group
review and project outcome.
Accountability
Mainstreaming of responsibilities should be
accompanied by accountability. The few women who are committed usually perform
most of the tasks. In order to overcome this difficulty in the AEFCC, a wider
framework should be used, which would include community and religious leaders,
NGOs, leaders of thought, Directors General, etc. who are expected to be the
AEFCC Ambassadors in their various communities.
Networking
This round table is a crucial part of the
much-needed networking in the AEFCC sector. Firstly, without networking, inequalities
due to lack of knowledge about opportunities (especially for women in AEFCC)
can flourish. Secondly, the effectiveness
of the system in the AEFCC sector in drawing the stakeholders’ attention to
such inequalities is diminished.
Networking within the sector would be enhanced by
furthering stakeholders’ awareness, understanding of, and commitment to the
involvement of women. This would include sector-wide information capture, the
establishment of communication mechanisms to ensure that stakeholders are aware
of, and responsive to the needs of experts in the AEFCC sector.
Cultural Values
This is probably the most important and wide-ranging
of the principles. Cultural values in mainstreaming are particularly relevant
here because many cultural practices in Nigeria favour the exclusion of
women. By focusing on cultural values,
stakeholders would have the opportunity to identify possible improvements. For example, in many “cultures” in Nigeria,
women, like children are to be seen and not heard. It is an extension of this reasoning that
makes many communities exclude women from getting involved in AEFCC processes.
Seminars, workshops and especially the machinery
of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), could help disabuse the
minds of Nigerians of some of these unprogressive beliefs about women. Areas to be addressed in these workshops,
seminars and conferences include a gender-neutral language, distribution of
facilitators of the AEFCC process by gender. In the midst of this cacophony of
issues relating to our age-long cultural values, the involvement of women in
AEFCC processes can be taught.
Gender Equity
Goal and Framework
An AEFCC plan is a dynamic document and will
require amendment and updating regularly. The objectives must be based on the analysis
of the level of involvement of women in AEFCC.
Based on the stated principles, the performance of the objectives would
have to be measured against performance indicators.
AEFCC Focal
Points
Some of the AEFCC focal points are the President,
Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Directors-General, Directors etc (in the
Public Service). In the Organized Private Sector, we have Managing Directors
and Directors of companies, etc. In Civil Society, Executive Directors and
Coordinators of NGOs, CBOs and their program directors, market women leaders,
organized labour leaders etc.
Monitoring and
Evaluation of the Plan
For the plan to be effective, some strategies are
suggested. These strategies would be evaluated and monitored by the office of
the coordinator of the AEFCC. Success
would be addressed against progress indicators. The coordinating unit in the
form of training and regular consultation would provide support and
advice. If recommended by the
coordinator of the stakeholders, the arm saddled with budgeting and planning
could provide support.
Major Activities
Required
In order to develop an appropriate AEFCC plan, the
following major activities are necessary:
(i) AEFCC
situation analysis
(ii) Consultative
meetings
(iii) Expert
working group review
(i) AEFCC Situation Analysis
This is a critical first step for guiding the
process. It would serve the following
purposes:
(a) Provide baseline data
(b) Document attitudes towards AEFCC issues.
(c) Examine the opportunities and constraints
to introducing AEFCC issues.
Both quantitative and qualitative methods will be
used to conduct this activity.
(ii) Consultative Meetings
Participatory methodologies require that
consultations be held with stakeholders with a view to identifying and
evaluating possible and workable strategies for implementing the AEFCC plan.
Consultative meetings would be held with
all representatives of stakeholders’ groups at two different stages of the development
of the AEFCC plan.
(iii) Expert Working Group Review
It is also important in the development of an
AEFCC plan that experts be consulted. The
suggestion is that experts from EFCC, relevant research institutes and
Universities be involved.
Curriculum Review
As mentioned earlier in this paper, to ensure
“sustainable” involvement of women in the sector, AEFCC studies should be an
integral part of the curriculum at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
When you “catch them young” at the primary school level, they imbibe the fact
that men and women, boys and girls are equal. This they do at an impressionable
stage of their lives.
If these AEFCC studies
continue at the secondary level, they build on what they have already learnt in
primary school. At the tertiary level when they are young adults, the whole
concept of AEFCC becomes part of them. Female teachers can play an important
role here.
Project Outcome
It is expected that at the end of the project, an
AEFCC plan would be developed. This plan
would address both the structure through which the AEFCC plan may be
implemented, monitored and evaluated and the specific strategies for
mainstreaming women.
In lieu of a conclusion
The anticipated benefits of an AEFCC plan are not
just an increase in the number of women involved in the anti-corruption crusade,
especially those participating in decision making. Mainstreaming women
encourages participatory management of the AEFCC process, gender-conscious
budgeting, accountability and transparency and better understanding of AEFCC
issues.
To be sure, the major role anticipated for women
in AEFCC process is prevention of economic and financial crimes, and mainstreaming
women into AEFCC processes would ensure that they are a formidable part of the
success story of making Nigeria relatively free of economic and financial
crimes so that taxpayers’ money can be judiciously disbursed in the public
sector.
In the private sector, the AEFCC would make
stakeholders confident about the companies they invest in. Beyond prevention of
economic crimes, women law enforcement agents are needed for apprehension of
culprits, while female counselors could put citizens on the right path where
appropriate.
Dr Dayo Oluyemi-Kusa is an independent consultant/conflict
transformation expert & former Director, Institute for Peace and Conflict
Resolution, The Presidency, Abuja.
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