Political consultancy ‘will improve accountability’

Experts say the practice of political consultancy will improve accountability in governance and political engagements in the country.

This was the outcome of a meeting of the Africa Political Consultants Association (Nigerian chapter) at the weekend in Lagos.

The participants maintained that Nigeria was long overdue to have a structured political consultancy.

They said this would not only enhance the chances of politicians to win elections, but also improve on their performances while in office.

“This is a special field and it takes the advantage of different professionals -journalists, lawyers, statisticians, accountants etc,  to do these. This is because this body must help to improve accountability and governance in Nigeria,” Tokunbo Afikuyomi a two time Lagos senator said.

He said it was high time the skills of local consultants are employed by politicians to enable them win elections, instead of hiring foreign experts to do it.

Dele Alake, a former Lagos state commissioner for information and strategy and who was announced as the PROTEM chairman of the Nigerian chapter, said political consultancy was a total management concept which aimed at ensuring the goals of political engagements.

Speaking earlier, Kehinde Bamgbetan, PROTEM chairman of the Africa chapter, expressed dismay that African countries have relied heavily on foreign consultants to help them handle with thier electoral matters.

He also said that Nigeria had been slated to host the next African conference of the body in 2017.

Also speaking, Semiu Okanlawon, PROTEM secretary and also announced as chairman of the local organising committee of the APCA conference holding in Lagos in 2017, said foreign political consultants at different international conferences have expressed willingness to work with local consultancy firms.

He said that there was need for the structure to be based on international best practices.