26th March, 2016
Eromosele Ebhomele
Commissioner for Home Affairs of Lagos State, Nigeria, AbdulLateef AbdulHakeem, has said government needed to fund the activities of civil society organisations for the latter to effectively play its role in the governance of the country.
He particularly said the Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, would gladly want an interface with civil society organisations at intervals.
AbdulHakeem, who was speaking at the inaugural meeting of Lagos state Office of Civic Engagement with civil society organisations and non-governmental organisations in Ikeja, stressed: “there must be a conscious effort of the government in the country to fund the activities of civil society as a way of strengthening them.”
He regarded the civil society as the most virile arm of government since civil society organisations monitor and carry out oversight on all arms of government.
According to him, the recognition of this role is the reason the government came up with the Office for Civic Engagements as well as the meeting.
He said: “no arm of government is as virile as the civil society when it comes to checks and balances. Civic engagement is the laison office between the legislature and executive.
“Civil society is to limit and control the power of the state and also perform oversight on the three arms of government.
“Governments must therefore empower civil society to these roles effectively. Civil society is the organ of government above every other organ.”
He said Nigeria must be made to work and recalled how Donald Trump, a presidential aspirant in the United States of America, USA, recently mocked Nigeria and its citizens and even threatened to evict all Nigerians if made the president of the country.
He called on the civil society to stand behind the anti-corruption campaign of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to make Nigeria a better place.
He further charged the civil society groups to speak out against corrupt lawyers and judges and ensure that criminals including electoral fraudsters are punished and jailed to serve as a deterrent.
In his speech, the chairman, Board of Trustees of the Centre for Constitutionalism and Demilitarisation, Dr. Sylvester Odion Akhaine, noted how in 2013, the immediate past Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, commenced an innovative interface with the civil society, but said after two sessions, the interface was discontinued.
He expressed delight that the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode administration thought is wise to set up the Office for Civic Engagement saying it would help the civil society in relation to effective governance.
“By its very composition, it (Lagos) is the courtyard of different cultures translating into what may be called ‘Lagos life’. In this sense, Lagos is a veritable civic sphere. A great deal of associational activities go on here daily.
“It is not often clear how these are translated or converted to influence decision-making in the state.
“This is perhaps one of the justifications for a formal civic engagement with civic actors comprising social movements, non-government organisations, community development associations, labour and other related organisations,” he said noting that civil actors have a major role to play in the society.
He pleaded that the engagement between the Office for Civic Engagement of the state and the civil society organisations should not end in occasional meetings, but that “there must be concrete engagement with the governance process in the state, providing alternative views to enrich policy and also to act as watchdog on the excesses of the government in the interest of the public.”