HB 451: Improved Aid Effectiveness, Accountability and Co-operation for Donor, Recipient Bill, 2016

Bill Analysis:

SHORT TITLE

Improved Aid Effectiveness, Accountability and Co-operation for Donor, Recipient Bill, 2016

OBJECTIVE OF THE BILL

The Bill seeks to adopt the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness by harmonizing and aligning all aid delivery to Nigeria with Nigeria’s national development strategies.

NUMBER OF CLAUSES/PARTS

The Bill has 10 clauses, including interpretation and citation.

IMPLICATIONS

Passage of the Bill is intended to achieve the following: -

• Donors shall align with Nigeria’s national development strategies in aid delivery;
• A major criterion for partnership with donors shall be the promotion of Nigeria’s economic plans;
• National Planning Commission (NPC) shall be empowered to make guidelines and procedures to ensure a measurable and continuous improvement in aid delivery.

GENERAL PROVISIONS OF THE BILL

1. Functions and Powers of the National Planning Commission (NPC): -

The Commission shall upon the passage of this Bill (when it becomes law): -

• Make definite procedures, guidelines as well as monitor and implement the provisions of this Bill (when it becomes law) with a view to ensuring a measurable and continuous improvement in aid delivery;
• Register existing donor agencies operating in Nigeria, regulate and coordinate their activities;
• Lead in the coordination of aid at all levels in conjunction with other development resources in dialogue with donors and encouraging the participation of civil society and the private sector;
• Work with donors to establish mutually agreed frameworks that provide reliable assessments of performance, transparency, accountability and implementation;
• Encourage and enforce the prioritization and use of local personnel and resources in the administration of development and donor assistance in Nigeria;
• Develop a framework for reporting and disclosure by all donors and development partners of the application of funds in Nigeria;
• Publish timely, transparent and reliable reporting on aid assessment and performance;
• Provide clear views on donors’ comparative advantage and on how to achieve donor complementarities in Nigeria;
• Reinforce participatory approaches by systematically involving a broad range of donors when formulating and assessing progress in implementing national development strategies;
• Monitor and ensure that development funds given by donors and development partners to any government institution are in line with the national development strategies and objectives of the Nigerian government and its citizens.

2. Responsibilities of Donors: -

In accordance with Clause 4 of the Bill, the donor shall have the responsibility to: -

• Liaise with NPC to harmonize their aid delivery with Nigeria’s development needs;
• Furnish NPC with details of projects and programmes they intend to directly execute and then 3 weeks after completion, give account to the NPC;
• Link their programming and resources to result and align them with the Nigeria’s performance assessment frameworks;
• Refrain from requesting the introduction of performance indicators not consistent with Nigeria’s national development strategies;
• Harmonize their monitoring and reporting requirements with the statistical, monitoring and evaluation systems of the Commission to the maximum extent possible on joint formats for periodic reportingetc.

3. Collaboration between the NPC and Donors: -

Clause 5 of the Bill provides that donor agencies and the NPC shall collaborate to ensure that there is no duplication of project in the national budget, and periodically assess qualitatively and quantitatively the mutual progress in the implementation of agreed commitment on aid effectiveness.

In addition, their collaboration shall provide more predictable and multi-year commitments on aid flows to Nigeria, and ensure humanitarian assistance in times of disaster are harmonized within growth and poverty reduction agenda of Nigeria.

4. Responsibility of Recipient Agency: -  

Any government agency or non-governmental organization receiving donor funding shall –

• Within 7 days of receipt of the grant or aid, furnish the NPC with details of the grants or aid, to be published in two national dailies;
• Cause the aid or grant to be utilized strictly for the purpose for which it was meant;

5. Offences and Penalties: -

Any recipient of aid or donation that willfully makes false declaration or publication about the grant or aid it receives; or under-utilizes the grant or aid by a donor is guilty of an offence under this Bill (when it becomes law). If found guilty of this offence, the recipient shall be liable on conviction to a fine of N400,000 or a jail term not exceeding 2 years or both (Clause 7).

The NPC shall have powers to recommend for prosecution, any person or group of persons in a government agency or non-governmental organization that caused the under utilization or misapplication of aid or grant made by a donor (Clause 8)

CONCLUDING ISSUES

The Bill seeks to improve aid effectiveness and cooperation with donor partners by strengthening the National Planning Commission (NPC). Statutorily, the NPC is charged with the task/function of managing multilateral and bilateral economic cooperation including development aid and technical assistance programming. However, this Bill seems to provide a breakdown of this statutory function of the NPC and its level of collaboration with donor agencies.

Clause 6(1)(b) of the Bill provides that aid or grant recipients, including NGOs shall provide details of the grants received to the NPC within 7 days, as well as cause the publication of the grant details in two national dailies. Perhaps the provision is meant to ensure transparency; however, it seems unreasonable for NGOs to publish grants received in newspapers given that the Clause also requires that the grant details be provided to the NPC. Provision of the details to the NPC should constitute adequate disclosure.

Another Bill currently before the House of Representatives is the Non-Governmental Organization Regulatory Commission Bill (HB 585), which seeks to establish a commission/body to regulate and monitor the use of donor funds (aid or grant) by NGOs. With this Bill also before the House of Representatives, it is expected that the duplication of roles would be detected and both Bills consolidated to ensure that two or more government agencies are not statutorily empowered to perform the same role.