US indicts FG, says Nigeria lacks fiscal transparency – TheNigerialawyer

The United States Department of State has said that Nigeria made
no significant progress in fiscal transparency.

Fiscal transparency refers to the publication of information on
how governments raise, spend, and manage public resources.

More specifically, it means publication of high quality
information on how governments raise taxes, borrow, spend, invest,
and manage public assets and liabilities.

This was the submission of the U.S. Department of State 2019
Fiscal Transparency Report spanning January 1 – December 31,
2018.

The report describes the minimum requirements of fiscal
transparency developed, updated, and strengthened by the Department
in consultation with other relevant federal agencies.

It reviews governments that were originally identified in the
2014 Fiscal Transparency Report, and assesses those that did not
meet the minimum fiscal transparency requirements and indicates
whether those governments made significant progress toward meeting
the requirements during the review period of January 1 – December
31, 2018.

The report also provides a description of the use of the Fiscal
Transparency Innovation Fund.

The American Government undertakes annual reviews of the fiscal
transparency of governments that receive U.S. assistance.

The assessment helps to ensure that U.S. taxpayer funds are used
appropriately and provide opportunities to dialogue with
governments on the importance of fiscal transparency.

Released on Thursday, the report notes that the minimum
requirements of fiscal transparency include having key budget
documents that are publicly available, substantially complete, and
generally reliable.

“The review includes an assessment of the transparency of
processes for awarding government contracts and licenses for
natural resource extraction,” it states.

Continuing, the report states, “Fiscal transparency is a
critical element of effective public financial management, helps
build market confidence, and underpins economic
sustainability.”

It adds that fiscal transparency fosters greater government
accountability by providing a window into government budgets for
citizens, helping citizens hold their leadership accountable, and
facilitating better-informed public debate.

The Department concluded that, of the 140 governments evaluated
pursuant to the Act plus Equatorial Guinea, 67 did not meet the
minimum requirements of fiscal transparency.

Of these 67, however, 13 governments made significant progress
toward meeting the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency.

Nigeria is one of the countries that did not meet the minimum
requirements for fiscal transparency.

See the full report
here^[1]

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World Humanitarian Day: MAMA Centre Celebrates
Humanitarian Women, Calls for Safe Operation Spaces

As the world commemorates the World Humanitarian Day 2019, the
Mothers and Marginalised Advocacy (MAMA) Centre honours
humanitarian efforts and support by Women Humanitarians, who
passionately propagate the idea of supporting people in crisis
worldwide.

While we acknowledge the unique role of women in peace and
conflict resolution, we commend and celebrate the dogged
contributions of Women Humanitarians in making the world a better
place, despite the associated risks identified with Humanitarian
world.

We continue to appreciate Women Humanitarians as the first
responders to the “darkest hours of crisis”, revealing their
incomparable exceptionality, while validating the global
affirmation of female strength, power and perseverance at all
levels.

We are not unaware of the existing life-threatening challenges
and unjustified attacks targeted at Women Humanitarians at various
humanitarian stages and processes.

We condemn in totality, discrimination and violence against
female aid workers in any form or place across the world, while
calling for more robust and supportive policy environment through
implementation of appropriate surveillance system and competent
reporting mechanism to encourage and address the plights of Women
Humanitarians.

We encourage every humanitarian effort to take as cognisance,
the essential role of women and girls as first responders, agents
of change, as well as the best representatives of needs in
humanitarian situations.

We also call for specific effort to reach marginalized women and
girls, including women with disabilities, indigenous women, elderly
women, and women of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity,
to building on their needs and capacities in order to effectively
engage them as active partners in humanitarian process.

We further advocate for safe operation spaces for women and
adolescent girls in every humanitarian response to enable them
brainstorm and devise appropriate response strategies at all
levels.

Signed:
Barr. (Mrs.) Ola E. Onyegbula
Executive Director, MAMA Centre