Final
Activity Report
- April 2006 to October 2007 - During the first half of the fellowship, my activities focused on the following: 1. Purchase of relevant equipment, development and uploading of project website. 2. Identification of relevant human, academic and policy resources. 3. Identification of relevant and related local and international organizations and coalitions –both government and non-government driven that could influence the project. 4. Initiation of actual research related activities like travels, interviews and writing of a first draft policy paper The very first activity that I undertook was to identify and purchase agreed fellowship equipments like laptop computer, printer, and broadband internet equipment. Thereafter, I went on to develop the project website (www.policy.hu/onyeukwu) prepared and uploaded the initial content like my curriculum vitae, revised project proposal, timeline, advocacy plan etc. I then proceeded to identify relevant project resources. I looked for and accessed publications from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s policy series, several journals, books and articles on the subject matter of my research. I also searched the websites and other resources of several local and international organizations like the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), the Debt Management Office (DMO), the Budget Office, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the Revenue Watch International (RWI), and the Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Campaign amongst others. I participated in
activities organized by the World Bank and the Swiss Government – on
the use of the recovered Abacha loot. That of the National Legislature
– on the Fiscal Responsibility Bill before it; the Budget Office – on
the 2006 Budget; the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the
President on the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs – on the monitoring
of the Debt Relief Gains applied towards the MDGs in the 2006 Federal
Budget. I further participated in the work of the National Planning
Commission – on the benchmarking of the States Economic Empowerment and
Development Strategy (SEEDS) Documents in the 36 States of the
Federation in addition to several related civil society interventions
that has bearing on the project topic.
I also wrote the first draft of the policy paper. For the second and final part of the fellowship, I focused on the following: 1. Concluding project research 2. Preparation and administration of questionnaire 3. Hosting of two focus group discussions 4. Participated in the 2007 policy seminar at Budapest 5. Participated in advanced seminar on: Mastering resources for development: states, laws and economies 6. Public presentation of policy outcome 7. Preparation of second, and final draft of policy paper In the course of the second part of the policy assignment, I concluded all policy research activities to enable me write up the second draft and final draft of the policy paper. As part of the final research activities, I prepared a questionnaire that was administered and its result collated, hosted two focus group discussions in Abuja and Lagos under the project and a third under the SEEDS benchmarking exercise in Kano. I also participated in the third policy seminar held at Budapest and participated in an advanced seminar on Mastering resources for development: states, laws and economies at the Central European University. I was in the course of the period under review, I also concluded and submitted the second draft of the policy paper for the Group Advisors comments and then proceeded to prepare the final draft of the policy paper for submission to the IPF Secretariat.
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