CAJA urges Kano to bring anti-graft agency closer to the people

The Centre for Awareness on Justice and Accountability (CAJA) has called on the Kano State Government to bring its anti-corruption agency, the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (KSPCAC), closer to the people by establishing its offices across the state’s 44 local government areas.

This was contained in press statement made available to newsmen in Kano on Monday and signed by Comrade Kabiru Sa`idu Dakata, CAJA’s executive director.

CAJA, a civil society organization campaigning for good governance, anticorruption and justice reform in Nigeria, is in partnership with the Youth Alive Foundation (YAF) and with the support from DFID currently implementing the Youth Participation in the fight Against Corruption (Y-PAC), a project aimed at increasing youth participation in the campaign against corruption in Kano state.

“The state government has in the past promised to commission the anticorruption [agency’s] office in each of the local government areas of the state. We hope the government will commit to this and commission some of these offices on 1st October, 2018 when we will commemorate the independence of Nigeria,” said the statement.

“We appreciate the effort of the commission in educating the people on the work of the commission through its various public awareness strategies.  However, there is need for a specific enlightenment campaign on how youths and general public can report corruption cases to the commission.”

Kano is currently the only state in Nigeria with a state-owned anticorruption agency which has been in existence since 2005 and had recently become more vibrant in the delivery of its mandate.

“While we commend the great strides made by the commission to position itself to sustain the fight against corruption in Kano state, we believe there is room for improvement, particularly in the area of adopting more inclusive strategies that will accommodate the support and participation of the marginalized groups especially Youth, Women and People with Disability,” the statement concluded