Prof Ernest Ojukwu,
SAN
Erudite Professor of Law, Ernest Ojukwu, SAN, has asked the
President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Paul Usoro, SAN, to
consult fellow elected officers on the selection of persons into
the NBA committees.
Prof. Ernest Ojukwu, SAN, gave this advice in an open letter
written to the NBA President.
Commending the NBA for the transparency briefing, which involved
the publication of a Financial Statement as at 31st August, Prof.
Ojukwu stated that all his FOI requests are yet to be responded
to.
He also charged the President to make available the list of
names of selected persons to the committees for comments on their
integrity.
Below read his letter to NBA
President
22ND NOVEMBER 2018
President,
Nigerian Bar Association, Abuja.
OPEN LETTER TO NBA PRESIDENT ON TRANSPARENT
GOVERNANCE
I am delighted to see the beginning of open, transparent and
accountable governance for the Nigerian Bar Association with the
publication of the Finance Function Diagnostic Report and the final
NBA Financial Statement as at 31st August 2018. This is a good
sign. I urge that we make this a culture.
As you know, I made a Freedom of Information request of 15
items from NBA on 30th October 2018 – most concerning financial and
accountability issues. Out of the 15 items, only two are activities
of the present leadership, that is to say,
1. Report of the NBA 2018 Ad-hoc transition Committee;
and
2. The contract signed by NBA to engage the services of
PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) for the purpose of auditing and
reviewing the NBA account.
I am yet to receive any response to any of the FOI
requests.
I have also noted that the next NBA NEC meeting has been
scheduled.
One of the governance setbacks that we had with some past
presidents been to hide (until last minutes at the NEC meeting) the
names of those proposed for various committees and representations.
As you have committed to an open, transparent and accountable
leadership, I hope to see a break from this past in the appointment
of our representatives to various committees and organs.
In the first place, fellow elected officers of the Bar
should be consulted in an open discussion of proposed names for
committees and other representations.
As we practiced many years ago, when we had proper NBA
Presidents, any proposed list of representatives/Committee members
ought to be published in advance of NBA NEC meeting where
ratification/appointment is finally done.
NEC members and the entire membership ought to have the
opportunity to “have a say” on those proposed to represent
them.
Some of the committees that we need to constitute urgently
are the Zonal Disciplinary Investigations Committees. The last set
appointed by the last President had some chairmen and many members
with horrible reputation and horrible pasts but we were
not given the opportunity to comment on them before they were
announced as appointed. We need the proposed lists to comment on
members’ integrity and other issues of interest for open,
transparent and accountable NBA governance.
Thank you.
Prof Ernest Ojukwu, SAN
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Related
Health: FG Unveils 2018 NNHS Report
The Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Health has
unveiled and disseminated the 2018 National Nutrition and Health
Survey (NNHS)/SMART Survey report.
Speaking at the dissemination meeting recently in Abuja, the
Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, said that the Report
being the third after the first and second in 2014 and 2015
respectively was to further demonstrate the Federal Government’s
strong commitment towards strengthening data collection and
utilization which was an essential aspect of the ‘’Saving One
Million Lives Programme for Results’ (SOML-PforR).
The Minister informed that the NNHS was to provide up-to-date
information on the situation of Health and Nutrition as well as
measure the SOML-PforR key indicators and other health related
indicators with particular focus on six key priority indicators
that required immediate action: Skilled birth Attendance,
Immunization/Pent A3, Contraceptive Prevalence Rate, Vitamin A,
PMTCT, Insecticide-Treated Bed Nets (ITNS).
Consequently, Adewole noted that available reports from recent
assessment of the states showed some improvement from the previous
assessments though there were still few challenges which he said
could be resolved through continuous liaising with the National
Programme Management Unit of the SOML-PforR.
The Minister also informed that the Health Ministry had procured
some ‘Ready-to Use Therapeutic Foods’ (RUTF) in partnership with
UNICEF for the treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in six
selected States. 12,000 cartons of the RUTF were handed over to
States with the highest burden of Acute Malnutrition. The States
included: Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Edo, Osun, as well as FCT who
got 5,000 cartons. The Six States were picked from 12 States with
the highest burden of malnutrition selected from the six
geopolitical zones of the country based on their readiness to
participate in the programme.
Commending the SOML-PforR for using statistics to monitor her
programme and decision making, the Statistician General of
Federation, National Bureau of Statistics, Dr. Yemi Kale, noted
that since inception of the survey, the data quality had improved
judging by the data quality score. This, he attributed to adequate
training and use of electronic data tools, which he said eliminated
error.
Speaking on behalf of the Health sector Development Partners,
the Representative of the Country Director, World Bank, Dr.
Benjamin, described the report as a great accomplishment by the
Nigerian Government, in that, every decision based on data ensured
sustainable development in every strata of an economy. He further
advised that the Survey should be conducted annually.
The Country Representative of UNICEF, Mohammed Malinfa, said
that Nutrition was the foundation of life. He therefore appealed to
Federal Ministry of Health to release more funds for the purchase
of the RUTF and other Nutrition commodities. This would go a long
way in building a sustainable human capital which according to him
was the greatest asset of any Nation.
The report was made possible by the successful collaboration of
the Federal Ministry of Health through the ‘Saving One Million
Lives Programme for Results (SOML-PforR), National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS), National Population Commission (NPopC) and
UNICEF.