UNITED STATES INSTITUTE OF PEACE www.usip.org SPECIAL REPORT 2301 Constitution Ave., NW • Washington, DC 20037 • 202.457.1700 • fax 202.429.6063 ABOUT THE REPORT Samson Itodo and Davin O’Regan Focusing on transparency and accountability reforms, this Special Report examines the landscape of Nigerian activism as revealed by interviews with representatives from civil society and a research workshop held in Abuja in December 2017. It examines the scope of the substantial international funding Nigeria’s Movement and training support that civil society organizations in Nigeria receive and how this support affects the effectiveness of civil society actors. The report is supported by the United States Institute of Peace. Funding and other assistance were for Transparency and provided by the Democracy, Rule of Law, and Governance office at the US Agency for International Development and by the Transparency and Accountability Initiative. Accountability ABOUT THE AUTHOR Bringing the Pieces Together Samson Itodo, a researcher and community organizer based in Abuja, Nigeria, is the executive director of YIAGA AFRICA, a civic organization launched in 2007 to promote democratic governance and civic participation across the continent. Summary Davin O’Regan is a senior program officer in the Program on Nonviolent Action at USIP. Miranda Rivers of USIP provided • Nigerian activism and collective efforts to combat corruption have risen dramatically in recent extensive research and editing support; Aminu Gamawa years. Combined with a range of new civil society organizations working to push reforms, a conducted several interviews. movement for transparency and accountability may be emerging. • Civil society organizations and activists have demonstrated an ability to elevate and sustain transparency reforms on various political and policy agendas. Organizations have also been able to advance innovative solutions and plans, thereby increasing the likelihood of reform adoption. • Accountability reforms remain elusive and may not be responsive to the same approaches and tactics that have improved transparency. • Funding from foreign governments, multilateral institutions, and private foundations has been critical for Nigerian civil society organizations that focus on transparency and accountability. Many organizations are still working to tap into a viable domestic resource base. © 2018 by the United States Institute of Peace. • Foreign support, in terms of funding and training, has tended to be too inflexible, short All rights reserved. term, and focused on organizational management as opposed to mobilizing mass action and movement building. SPECIAL REPORT 433 OCTOBER 2018 CONTENTS Transparency and Accountability Activism 2 Introduction Successes and Challenges 7 It is difficult to deny the broad changes that have swept over Nigeria the last two decades. The Role of External Support 10 Moving from an infamous military dictatorship in the late 1990s to one of Africa’s most Conclusions and Recommendations 14 robust democracies just twenty years later, the country has made remarkable progress. ABOUT THE INSTITUTE Still, widespread corruption bedevils the country. It is in many respects Nigeria’s biggest The United States Institute of Peace is an independent, policy challenge and threat to stability and development. Since the country’s transition to nonpartisan institution established and funded by Congress. democracy in 1999, an array of reforms has been undertaken and institutions created to Its goals are to help prevent and resolve violent conflicts, improve transparency and accountability. They include the establishment of anticorruption promote postconflict peacebuilding, and increase conflict agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Cor- management tools, capacity, and intellectual capital worldwide. The Institute does this by empowering others rupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission as well as policies to improve public with knowledge, skills, and resources, as well as by its direct procurement, personnel management, due process, and monitoring to reduce waste. involvement in conflict zones around the globe. Despite some modest improvements, corruption has barely budged. It remains wide- spread and persistent in Nigeria, which was ranked 148th out of 180 countries on Transpar- BOarD OF DIRECTOrs ency International’s 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index. (Its composite score of 27 out of Stephen J. Hadley (Chair), Principal, RiceHadleyGates, LLC, 100 makes it one of just a few of Africa’s democracies with such a low score.) This situation Washington, DC • George E. Moose (Vice Chair), Adjunct appears to be changing, however. From the grassroots upward, Nigerians are reinserting Professor of Practice, The George Washington University, Wash- themselves with renewed vigor into the gap between recalcitrant corruption and broad- ington, DC • Judy Ansley, Former Assistant to the President and based institutional reforms. They are demanding genuine and sustained improvements at Deputy National Security Advisor under George W. Bush, Wash- the state and societal levels. A growing constellation of citizen campaigns and organiza- ington, DC • Eric Edelman, Hertog Distinguished Practitioner in Residence, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International tions now constitute a major force in the effort to combat corruption. Studies, Washington, DC • Joseph Eldridge, University Chaplain These developments are promising—because it may require a movement to properly and Senior Adjunct Professorial Lecturer, School of International reverse the tide of corruption in Nigeria. In fact, social movements and their efforts have Service, American University, Washington, DC • Kerry Kennedy, demonstrated in dozens of studies remarkable abilities to positively influence a range of President, Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human policy reforms, including labor regulations, environmental standards, and civil rights.1 Many Rights, Washington, DC • Ikram U. Khan, President, Quality Care leading Nigerians also agree on the need for a movement for transparency and accountabil- Consultants, LLC, Las Vegas, NV • Stephen D. Krasner, Graham H. Stuart Professor of International Relations at Stanford ity. “In the fight against corruption, citizen involvement and demand side activism are key University, Palo Alto, CA • John A. Lancaster, Former Executive components,” Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari writes in his reflections on the topic.2 Director, International Council on Independent Living, Potsdam, Drawing on a workshop held in Abuja with fourteen Nigerian transparency and account- NY • Jeremy A. Rabkin, Professor of Law, George Mason ability activists as well as on subsequent in-depth interviews with more than twenty other University, Fairfax, VA • J. Robinson West, Chairman, PFC civil society leaders and key informants, this report analyzes the less celebrated but unique Energy, Washington, DC • Nancy Zirkin, Executive Vice contributions and comparative advantages of this emerging movement for transparency and President, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Washington, DC accountability in Nigeria. It reviews the landscape of anticorruption activism in Nigeria, from the many successes to the real limits. MEMBERS EX OFFICIO Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State • James Mattis, Secretary of Defense • Frederick J. Roegge, Vice Admiral, US Navy; Transparency and Accountability Activism President, National Defense University • Nancy Lindborg, Nigeria has a long history of activism. In the 1990s, organizations such as the Civil Liberties President, United States Institute of Peace (nonvoting) Organization and United Action for Democracy led the movement against military rule, mobi- lizing citizens to take a stand and organizing demonstrations in the streets. Efforts by Media Rights Agenda and others were critical to expanding civic space and protecting freedom of expression. Labor unions have also been at the forefront of major changes, including on various economic and social policies such as government subsidies and labor regulations. Nigerian civil society has been actively pushing for democratic change and other reforms for generations.3 A new emerging wave of activism has been making its mark, however. Activism can take many forms, from boycotts and stay-aways to letter-writing campaigns, but protest is a tactical mainstay and its most visible form. In Nigeria, annual counts of protests have surged from at most a few dozen from 2000 through 2012 to well over four hundred between 2013 and 2017 (see figure 1).4 Much of this coincides with the emergence of the Bring Back The views expressed in this report do not necessarily Our Girls campaign, a citizens’ campaign borne out of the tragic kidnapping of nearly three reflect the views of the United States Institute of Peace, hundred teenage girls from the northeastern town of Chibok by Boko Haram militants in which does not advocate specific policy positions. April 2014. The campaign garnered significant domestic and international attention and To request permission to photocopy or reprint materials, transnational support. Yet only about sixty of the protests captured in figure 1 reference email: [email protected]. the Chibok girls. New demands are being advanced by Nigeria’s grass roots on a wide range 2 USIP.ORG • SPECIAL REPORT 433 Figure 1. Number of Protest Events in Nigeria, 2008–17 600 524 Protests 500 Protests have surged from a few dozen to over 400