By Lazarus Zakaa Abuja
As part of measures to lend support to the fight against corruption, a coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations, under the umbrella of CNC, Thursday, launched its town hall projects to track and monitor public spending nationwide.
The event which took place in Abuja was attended by CNC delegates drawn from the six geo-political zones of the country and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
Addressing journalists at the event, CNC National President, Ukpola Chinedu explained the reason for the project this way:
“CNC is a coalition of NGOs, of men and women of integrity who have come together for a common purpose of building that Nigeria of our dream which we all believe in. We started in 2017 and since then, CNC has been active and agile even though we are strategic in our actions. We are targeted on building a new structure, a system that is founded on transparency and accountability with zero tolerance for corruption.
“We believe in meritocracy, and that the right people should be in the right positions. We believe Nigeria has the people to deliver what Nigerians want to deliver for themselves. And we believe that Nigeria will be built by Nigerians.
“The town hall project is our strategic direction for the 2019-2021 because we believe in unveiling projects that add values to our nation. It is something that will have our people gathered at the local government areas to discuss issues that concern them with regards to governance. We are going to have venues and locations at every local government where delegates of our town hall projects will come together to discuss issues of fiscal transparency, anti-corruption and community security and welfare.”
Explaining further, Chinedu said the projects “will involve all the CNC delegates gathering in all the local governments of the federation in our venues to discuss issues that concern them in their localities. CNC is non-confrontational, we don’t insult leaders and we do not believe in using foul languages. We do not believe in criticising unduly but we believe in constructive criticisms.
“The town hall projects will be established within the next two years in the 774 local government areas of the federation. Every local government will have a project.”
He urged the people not to forget that with their collective resolve, contractors who collect money to build infrastructures would have a rethink, if they (contractors) know that they are being monitored.
Also speaking, representative of the Executive Director of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, Modibbo Hamman Tukur, Stephen Mbanefo, promised to collaborate with CNC to champion issues of anti-corruption, fiscal transparency and good governance.