Thread by @yinkanubi

Yesterday @BudgITng launched the #LGAlert with a renewed focus on accountability at the LG Level. Today, I decided to check the websites of some Civil Society Organisations that have been very active for the past few years to see how accountable & transparent they are.

A THREAD

I checked 5 very active civil society organisations. Namely:
@EiENigeria
@SERAPNigeria
@BudgITng
@YIAGA
@Connected_dev

Of the 5, only BudgITng & CODE published on its website their Annual Report containing audited Financial Statement. The others provided no such information

EiE and YIAGA while showing on its website, its list of donors & partners, have no Financial Statement or Annual Report. SERAP on the other hand has no list of donors, no partners & no financial or annual report. It's possible that these reports exist, but I couldn't locate them.

The point is not to indict any CSO. But if your mission is to "promote good governance and public accountability in Nigeria" or "Promote transparency, accountability and respect for socio-economic rights", then you must be seen to be accountable and transparent as well.

It's important that those who demand accountability & transparency of govt must themselves be accountable & transparent. It starts by being open about your collections (In terms of donations and grants) and your expenditure. These info MUST be easily accessible & widely available

If you go to the website of any international development org (Action Aid, FHI360 etc), you'll find without difficulty their financial report on their website. This allows for independent review of activities and analysis of their cost-program ratio. That shd be the gold standard

Like I mentioned earlier, it is possible that these information already exist. If it does, I will encourage these organisations to follow the examples of @BudgITng and @Connected_dev and upload it on their websites. You can't be preaching accountability and not be transparent.