Coalition of Civil Society Organisations, Academia and Media in North East, has called for the strengthening of legislative oversight on defence and security sector, to restore transparency and accountability in the military operations.
This is contained in a Communique jointly signed by Auwal Rafsanjani, Executive Director of CISLAC/TI-Nigeria and Asma’u Yahaya, Executive Director, Heal Disability Initiative at the end of one-day workshop on Reforms in the Nigerian Defence and Security Sector on Saturday in Bauchi.
The workshop was organised by Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)/TI-Nigeria, in collaboration with Transparency International with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
The communnique stated weak legislative oversight by the National Assembly on the Executive arm paved the way for unsanctioned internal/external military operations and interventions that undermined due process.
It called for strengthening legislative oversight on the Defence and Security Sector to restore transparency and accountability in military operations process, spending and institutions.
It said it was necessary to “Encourage institutionalised whistleblowing mechanisms in defence and security sector, through enabling legal environment that establishes sustainable and just process, and protects whistle-blowers.
It further reiterated the strengthening mechanism for effective civil-military relations with adequate respect for human rights and dignity.
The coalition urged agencies responsible to address unhealthy inter-agency struggles for turf and removing overlapping rivalries.
They also called for strengthening the recruitment process in the security sector to ensure full implementation of guidelines in the selection process.
“That will discourage nepotism for operational efficiency and upholding ethical conduct within the sector.
The Coalition however called for active follow-up by civil societies and media on high profile abuse and corruption cases in security sector to ensure cases were not swept under the carpet.