By Perpetua Onuegbu/Grant Onyeke

Connected Development (CODE) has unveiled its 2025 Annual Report, highlighting 177.7 billion dollars annual financing gap for Nigeria to meet its climate obligations, while calling for reforms in global climate funding architecture.

Acting Chief Executive Officer of CODE, Ms Hyeladzira Mshelia, presented the report in Abuja.

She said that Nigeria received 4.928 billion dollars in climate finance over seven years, with 75 per cent of the funds coming as loans.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the report with the theme “Leading Communities to Action”, highlighted the projects the organisation had undertaken since inception such as ‘Follow the Money, Climate Action’ among others.

“CODE follows the money, and in 2025, we tracked funds across 12 African countries, covering 4,772 schools, oil-producing communities in the Niger Delta and federal allocation data largely inaccessible to ordinary Nigerians,” she said.

She noted that the organisation applied its Follow the Money methodology to Nigeria’s Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), stressing that lack of transparency in health security financing could have life-threatening consequences.

According to Mshelia, under the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE), CODE monitored schools in Borno, Ekiti, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi and Plateau States.

The acting CEO said there were improvements in scholarship delivery and digital learning access, but identified gaps in school safety and disability inclusion.

“We did not stop at documentation; we triggered corrective actions because accountability without reform is ineffective,” she said.

Mshelia, added that through the Power of Voices Partnership, 119 community members in four states were trained on their rights under the Petroleum Industry Act, strengthening accountability in Niger Delta communities.

Beyond its findings, Mshelia said CODE developed a Gender-Responsive Education Sector Planning roadmap in Bauchi State and established a Civic Integrity Club in a special needs school in Cross River.

She added that the organisation expanded its footprint to 12 African countries with the launch of Follow the Money in Sierra Leone and trained more than 450 students through civic hackathons and advocacy initiatives.

Highlighting impact stories, Mshelia cited Dorathy Stephen, a participant in the Girl-Child Education Project, who was later appointed to a ministerial committee on sexual harassment in Bauchi State.

Looking ahead to the 2027 general elections, Mshelia stressed the need for strengthened civic engagement and transparency.

“Nigeria is a few months away from general elections. What happens now in terms of civic education and citizen participation will determine the quality of that election,” she said.

The event also featured a Panel Discussion Session with the theme “From Accountability to the Ballot” where panellists looked at critical issues that could deter credible and transparent elections.

Senior Adviser, Policy and Strategy, Office of the Speaker, House of Representatives, Chimdi Neliaku said government must look for innovative ways to communicate its policies to the citizens for better understanding.

She added that it would close up the trust gap between the government and the citizenry.

Neliaku also urged the government to prioritise competing issues and needs of the people in order to deliver good governance.

On his part, Ibrahim Faruk, Programme Coordinator (Africa Division), Yiaga Africa, noted that one of the critical risks to election integrity was the fear of INEC officials being partisan and the fear of bodily harm due to insecurity.

Faruk also listed fake news and the use of AI in manipulating events and issues.

He, therefore, called for adequate information management to citizens as 2027 election draws near, adding that a well-informed citizen is the most powerful citizen.

Other participants called on the media to focus on politicians and the political class to propel them into action to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people.

NAN further reports that the event was also used to launch the Digital Mobilisation Lab, Cohort 2 which the organisation said is a structure to support democratic accountability and continued community-based monitoring.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Francis Onyeukwu