A coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) in the country has rejected the nomination of Kola Banwo of the Abuja-based CiSLAC as the CSO representative on the Board of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI). The CSOs in a statement issued Wednesday in Abuja faulted the Presidency’s alleged forwarding of Banwo’s name for the position, while also blaming CiSLAC for supporting the usurpation of the position by one of their own.

“The Call for Applications only just went out last week. The implication of the foregoing is that the legitimate process for electing a representative of the CSO constituency on the NSWG is still ongoing. We were therefore surprised and deeply embarrassed to read in the media through a press release signed by CISLAC’s Legal Director Adesina Oke, an announcement on the purported appointment of Kola Banwo as CSO representative on NEITI NSWG,” the CSOs said.

Continuing, they said: “We wish to state that we find the announcement disruptive, prejudicial to the ongoing process and in bad faith. It is pertinent to ask at this juncture: When did the process that produced Kola Banwo as CSO representative begin and end? What procedure did it follow? Which CSOs participated in that process? Did it reflect the EITI’s principle of transparency? Does the appointment of Kola Banwo meet the provisions of the EITI Standard and more specifically, its CSO Protocol?

“We hold nothing against Mr. Banwo as an individual. However, as champions of due process, the civil society constituency cannot be seen as sacrificing its own guiding precepts. We therefore wish to state that the surreptitious character of this announcement of Banwo as CSO representative makes a mockery of the EITI Principles and flies in the face of the intrinsic values of the constituency he seeks to represent.

“In fact, what we expected from Banwo and his organisation CISLAC was a statement thanking Mr. President for the offer but rejecting the appointment for reasons that the proper process must be followed. This would have been the path of honour for a leading organisation working on issues of transparency, accountability and good governance in Nigeria. It was therefore disappointing to us that in the face of this simple moral test, Banwo and CISLAC would choose a less honourable path.

“Civil society remains the corner stone of the EITI. If we allow this act to go unchecked, then all the gains we have made as a country in protecting civic space on the EITI may have been sacrificed.

“We therefore call on the Presidency to immediately correct this error as it has potential to undermine civil society credibility on the NEITI NSWG and invariably weaken the multi-stakeholder tripod on which the EITI is founded.”

•Photo shows NEITI Executive Secretary Waziri Adio.