Activities

Higlights/List of activities 2009

Please find below more detailed information about selected activities carried out in 2009. Feel free to contact us for more information.

"Pockets of Effectiveness in Nigeria: Exceptional Public Organisations and Democratic Change":

In January 2009 FES Nigeria brought together selected Nigerian social scientists to discuss an innovative research and advocacy project. Instead of looking at what goes wrong in terms of governance in Nigeria, the initial idea was to look at what actually works. FES suggested to focus on those Nigerian public organisation that perform relatively well in terms of public service delivery and are therefore rather exceptional within the coutry's context. The team discussed and revised the research concept, selected public organisations as case studies and identified young Nigerian researchers from all over the country to work with them on the project. Together with FES Nigeria, the team developed a common methodology and held four additional workshops since then. From September 10 - 13, 2009 the team met with ten highly distinguished Nigerian and international social scientists for an International Peer Review Workshop in Lagos to discuss the draft case study papers.
The project include seven case studies, amongst them organisations such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Lagos State Ministry of Environment. The Nigerian and International Peer Reviewers included, amongst others, Prof. Adigun Agbaje, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Dr. Jibrin Ibrahim, Executive Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Prof. Abdul Raufu Mustapha, University of Oxford, Prof. Edmond J. Keller, Dean of the Department of Political Science of the University of Carlifornia-Los Angeles and Prof. Thomas Bierschenk from Mainz University. The Peer Reviewers made valuable suggestions and comments on the draft papers. They will now be revised accordingly and published in a book in 2010. FES will use the result and recommendations arrived at for advocacy and advisory activities in Nigeria. The young research team members will continue to be involved in this and it is hoped that they can act as facilitators to improve service delivery and thereby strengthen democractic governance in Nigeria.

"Fiscal Responsibility Act Monitoring Manual":

In 2007 the Nigerian House of Assembly passed the "Fiscal Responsibility Act" which gives civil society a legal and official role in contributing to budget formulation and monitoring. However, up to now most of the provisions in the act have not been implemented. The "Fiscal Responsibility Commission" for example does exist but has not yet been fully staffed and therefore remains weak. Together with its partner Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), FES Nigeria initiated a project for training and preparing civil society organisations for monitoring the implementation of the Fiscal Responsibility Act as well the monitoring of government budgets. Based on a workshop in the first half of the year, CSJ and FES published the "Fiscal Responsibility Act Monitoring Manual" for organised civil society and the general public in September. The manual will help civil society organisations to fulfil their role as provided for in the Act in 2007. It is hoped that this will improve the effectiveness of civil society work on contributing to more transparent and accountable budgeting in NIgeria, one of the key objectives of FES Nigeria.