A coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has said that corruption in the public sector will continue to rise due to a lack of transparency in the public procurement laws and providing the public with little or no information regarding contracts being awarded by elected and appointed officials of governments.

The coalition decried that despite the enactment of the Public Procurement Act 2007 and the Freedom of Information Act 2011, corruption has geometrically increased in the public sector due to a lack of implementation.

It regretted that the laws which were put in place to monitor projects and hold government and Nigerian leaders accountable have failed in their bids to prevent corruption in the purchases made by the government as a result of low compliance and for being shrouded in secrecy.

The coalition, however, identified and applauded Edo, Plateau and Ekiti States for their compliance with the laws, urging others to emulate them.

Mr Onyekachi Chukwu, a consultant with an Abuja-based NGO, Public Private Development Centre (PPDC), made the statements in Ado Ekiti, at a four-day 2022 Hackcorruption workshop jointly organised by Accountability Lab, Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Originally published in The Sun

Kibo Ngowi