About Us

The Center for Fiscal Transparency & Public Integrity (formerly Center for Fiscal Transparency & Integrity Watch) is a non-governmental and non-partisan organization established in 2016 with the aim of promoting accountability, transparency within the public sector, and ensuring good governance at all levels.

To achieve its objectives, the Center develops technological solutions to monitor public sector expenditure and provide same to the public. It monitors issues related to integrity of public officers and institutions’ responsiveness to public scrutiny.

While it promotes open governance at national and sub-national levels, it also serves as a credible hub for resources related to criminal justice such as crime, compliance, asset recovery and illicit financial flows.

The Center has over time worked with both government and CSOs to implement programs and interventions aimed at strengthening democracy and improving governance in Nigeria.

Mission Statement

To promote good governance, transparency, accountability and public sector integrity through advocacy

Our Vision

To enhance human dignity in the public space

Our Focus

• Fiscal Transparency
• Public Sector Integrity
• Access to Information
• Data Science
• Countering Organized Crime Prevention
• Research

Aims & Objectives

• To promote the strengthening of democracy and improving governance by advocating for systems and mechanisms that enhance transparency and accountability.
• To promote and advocate for increased integrity of public institutions for enhancing the security and economy of Nigeria.
• To promote and advocate for strengthening of the criminal justice system toward strengthening democracy.
• To promote and collaborate with relevant organizations in enhancing the security, socio-economic and general well-being of Nigeria.
• To advocate for the enactment and implementation of laws and policies that promote good governance and public integrity.

Board of Trustees

Ifeyinwa Angela Nworgu – Chair

Ms. Nworgu was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1984 and thereafter practiced for four years before joining the Nigerian Foreign Service. In that capacity, she represented Nigeria in many countries. As Legal Coordinator at the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations (UN), she represented Nigeria and projected her interests in all the issues contained in the Agenda of the 6th Committee of the UN.

Subsequently, as Senior Adviser (Legal) to the President of the 64th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), she held meetings with all regional Chairmen and coordinated regional positions for projection at the UNGA. She successfully organized an international/intergovernmental UNGA High-Level Meeting on International Maritime Piracy.

Within a two-year stint as Director of the Nigerian Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML) in 2011, she excelled in the development and implementation of an effective culture of compliance with extant laws and regulations on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) amongst Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs).

As Consul at the Embassy of Nigeria, Rome, Italy, she was directly confronted with the challenges of Human Trafficking, Drugs Trafficking and Prostitution especially as they affect Nigerian migrants in Europe, as well as the deceitful and vicious strategies of the perpetrators and their collaborators located in Nigeria and Europe.

From 2019 – 2020, she was the Team leader/Senior Adviser on Peace and Security, to the President of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, New York. She holds a certificate in Corruption Studies from the University of Hong Kong, and a certificate on the Law of the Sea from the Rhodes Academy on the Law of The Sea. She is also a UNODC certified Corruption Risk Assessor.

AIG Zubairu Muazu (Rtd) FNIM, FCIN, CFE, mni

AIG Muazu (Rtd) is a seasoned and versatile Police Officer who served in the Nigeria Police Force in various capacities for 32 years. Having acquired a first degree in Botany from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1983 and doing the mandatory one year National service, he taught at the School of Agriculture, Bauchi State Polytechnic before he enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force on March 15, 1988 as cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police.

His experience in the Nigeria Police spans through Administration, Operations, Training and Criminal Investigations. Between 1992 and 1995 he worked with a team of British Police Service Officers on the “Nigeria- British Police Training Project” that established the Nigeria Police Central Planning and Training Unit at the Police Staff College, Jos.

At the peak of his career, he served as the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of the Nigeria Police Counter Terrorism Unit. He has also served as Commissioner of Police in Niger, Akwa Ibom and Lagos states. He was also in charge of the Nigeria Police Anti Bomb Squad (EOD) at the Department of Operations, Force Headquarters.

Between 2006 and 2012 he was seconded to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission where he served as Assistant Director and Head, Curriculum Development and Planning and later Head of Operations at the EFCC Lagos zonal office (2008-2012).

AIG Muazu was a member of the Nigeria Police contingent to the United Nations Mission in Bosnia Herzegovina (UNMIBH) in 1998 where he served as Head, Local Police Training (LPT) Mrconic Grad, in Bihac Region. He also served at the United Nations Interim Adminisration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in 1999 as the Regional Coordinator (Training) in Mitrovica region. He was a member of the team that established the Kosovo Police Service Academy at Vucitrn, Mitrovica Region in collaboration with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

As the Deputy Commissioner of Police Special Fraud Unit, Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) between 2012 and 2015, AIG Muazu represented the Nigeria Police on several committees and Agencies of the Federal Government. Notably, the Presidential Committee on Financial Action Taskforce FATF (PC-FATF) and later the Inter Ministerial Committee on AML/CFT, the Technical Unit on good Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms (TUGAR), AML/CFT Stakeholders Consultative Forum hosted by the CBN. He was also co-opted as observer into the Committee of Chief Compliance Officers of Banks in Nigeria (CCCOBIN).

He holds a Masters degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Lagos, M. Sc Policy and Strategic Management from the International University of Bamenda, Cameroon and a Post graduate certificate in Anti Corruption Studies from the University of Hong Kong. He is a member of Senior Executive Course 40 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS Kuru, a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police IACP, a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management, a Fellow of the Compliance Institute of Nigeria, a member of the Institute of Directors (IoD) and a Certified Fraud Examiner.

Dr Nelson Aluya

Dr Aluya is a medical doctor with broad-based training and clinical expertise in three continents. He has been involved in the medical management of people of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds in Nigeria, the United States of America and Jamaica, especially those of the indigent population. Trained in both Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, Dr. Aluya is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey, USA. He is also the Medical Director of Sinai Sub-Acute Rehabilitation Center, the largest sub-acute rehabilitation center in Essex County, New Jersey, USA.

He received his medical training and internship at the Prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. He had further training in both Pediatrics and Medicine at the Newark Beth-Israel Medical Center, Newark, New-Jersey, USA.

He has led multiple local and international medical missions to provide his expertise and selfless service to low-income socio-economic groups as well as economically and socially displaced, and migrant families.

He is a member of several professional associations, including American Medical Association (AMA) and Association of Nigerian Physicians in America (ANPA). Dr. Aluya currently serves on the boards of several NGOs and is the Vice President of Impact Life International, Florida, USA. He has been a guest speaker at numerous workshops, conferences and seminars, including the Haiti-American Partnership Convention. He is a recipient of numerous peer review awards, nominations and commendations both locally and internationally.

Dr. Aluya continues to dedicate his utmost effort to teaching and conducting research in order to improve health care delivery for all of humanity in general and for individuals of African descent in particular. He does this by building the framework for recognizing the barriers to healthcare, creating social and political awareness to the debilitating emotional, economic and social burden of disease and the often poorly recognized role of migration and human trafficking in health matters.

 

Umar Yakubu, Ph.D

Umar Yakubu specializes in the areas of national security, the criminal justice system, organized crime and data science.

During his tour of duty at Nigeria’s Economic & Financial Crimes Commission between 2007 and 2017, he was directly involved in articulating and driving policy related to the legal and institutional frameworks of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). Alongside, he creditably served on the Presidential Committee on Financial Action Task Force (PCFATF), and as well, on the technical committee that canvassed for solutions which addressed the FATF’s strategic deficiencies. The work by this committee resulted in Nigeria being delisted as a country of high risk.

At the national level, he has been a member of the National Risk Assessment Secretariat on Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing. He is one of eight (8) members that developed the National Anti-Corruption Strategy for implementation by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation from 2017-2021.

At the international level, he has consulted and researched for the Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering (GIABA), the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime (UNODC), and for the European Union (EU). At the Sixty-Seventh (67th) United Nations General Assembly, he worked on the Sixth Committee (Legal Committee) to assess Nigeria’s implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) measures, and on several other global and regional Instruments to combat corruption.

Umar Yakubu is a continuous learner and has received training on policy and strategies aimed at reducing financial crimes by attending over fifty courses in Nigeria and abroad. Some of these include, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Nigeria; Nigeria Police Staff College, Nigeria; Royal Canadian Metropolitan Police (RCMP), Canada; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), United States; United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime (UNODC); and The Central Office for the fight against crime related to information and communications technology (OCLCTIC), French Police.

As a consummate resource person, he has presented many erudite papers and has conducted capacity development programmes for various institutional beneficiaries, including judicial officers, public servants, the organized private sector, non-organized private sector, student groups and civil society organizations. A bona fide civil society activist in his own right, he led the development of the pioneer civil society mechanism for monitoring the implementation of UNCAC Articles across several countries. He also developed the pioneer Transparency & Integrity Index in 2021 – a bold mechanism for the continual assessment of all federal, states’ and local government institutions’ compliance with international and domestic laws, policies on Open Governance, Budget Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability; Human Resources; Public Procurement, Civil Engagement and Combatting Corruption. These tools are now available and are being used as veritable instrument for tracking, measuring and preventing corruption in the public sector.

Umar obtained degrees and certificates from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; Nasarawa State University, Keffi; from the University of Chester, University of Leicester, and the University of Portsmouth, all in the UK; the University of Leiden in the Netherlands; and from the SDG Academy & Harvard Business School in the US. He successfully bagged a Ph.D. in Defence & Security Studies from the Nigerian Defence Academy, Nigeria.

He is a member of the Nigerian Economic Society (NES), Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS), Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) and Centre for Counter Fraud Studies (CCFS), UK. He has served on the Board of the United Nations Convention against Corruption Coalition.

His primary interests include the promotion of national security and advocating for good governance and social justice. He also has a keen interest in global economics, philosophy, innovation and a wide range of sports.

Umar Yakubu is an ardent reader, and he regularly writes in opinion articles and commentaries in major newspapers in Nigeria, especially on good governance practices. He is currently penning down his thoughts in a forthcoming book titled “Public Sector Corruption in Nigeria: Causes, Consequences and Reform“, which is due for publishing in 2024.

He is the CEO of Counter Fraud Center LLC, a due diligence company (www.counterfraudcenter.org), CEO of Intelligensys & Strategies Ltd (www.intelligensys.org), a Data Science firm; and Founder and Executive Director of a civil society organization, the Center for Fiscal Transparency & Public Integrity (www.fiscaltransparency.org).

Meet the Team

CeFTIW 2022 Financial Document

CeFTIW 2021 Financial Document

CeFTIW 2020 Financial Document

CeFTIW Anti-Corruption and Bribery Policy

CeFTIW Whistleblower Policy

CeFTIW Equal Opportunity / Employment Policy