Key stakeholders across the African continent, including governments, anti-corruption institutions, civil society organisations (CSOs), academics, philanthropies, media representatives, businesses, and women and youth movements, have called for a fundamental shift in Africa’s approach to corruption, from a narrow emphasis on fighting corruption to building broader systems of accountability, citizen participation, and institutional integrity.
The call is contained in the Lagos Declaration on Anti-Corruption and Accountability, adopted on September 11, 2026, at the conclusion of a two-day High-Level Dialogue on Anti-Corruption and Accountability in Lagos.
The Dialogue, held on September 10 and 11, was convened by the Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment (CAPSI) at Wits Business School in South Africa, in collaboration with the Abuja-based African Centre for Leadership, Strategy, and Development (Centre LSD), the Open Society Foundations (OSF), and other partners. Participants were drawn from governments, anti-corruption agencies, and non-state sectors.
The Declaration noted that three decades of anti-corruption agencies, legislation, and reforms had not stopped corruption, state capture, and declining public trust, arguing that accountability goes beyond fighting corruption to address fundamental questions about who exercises power, in whose interest, and with what consequences when power is abused.
The participants declared that accountability should be understood as a responsibility of citizens and not solely of governments and state agencies.
They committed to strengthening citizen agency, civic consciousness, and collective action to enable citizens demand answers from those exercising public power.
The Declaration also called for expanding the accountability agenda to cover political, institutional, social, and economic accountability across public, private, and civic institutions, while encouraging partnerships between anti-corruption agencies and non-state actors.
It further called for a stronger focus on prevention, rather than relying primarily on prosecution after corruption has occurred. They advocated stronger public procurement systems, improved public financial management, effective auditing, beneficial-ownership transparency, and digital oversight to make corruption more difficult to commit and more likely to be detected.
The Declaration expressed concern about the vulnerability of anti-corruption institutions to political capture and called for transparent, merit-based appointments adequate financing, operational and judicial independence, as well as sanctions against individuals who obstruct justice.
It noted that tackling corruption required addressing political systems that sustain it, and called for transparent campaign financing, credible elections, and safeguards against the capture of public institutions.
The participants placed women, young people, and grassroots movements at the centre of efforts to strengthen accountability, and committed to expanding civic education, participatory budgeting, and social audits, while promoting greater leadership by women and young people in accountability institutions and movements.
They also called for the rebuilding of a culture of public integrity, arguing that laws alone cannot create accountable societies.
According to them, legal measures should be complemented by approaches capable of reshaping incentives and power relationships, with accountability education beginning at an early age.
The participants identified a safe civic environment as essential to effective accountability and specifically called on African governments to protect civic freedoms and the safety of whistle-blowers, journalists, human-rights defenders, and public-interest litigants.
The Declaration noted that accountability cannot flourish where citizens fear retaliation, but called on the media to strengthen investigative journalism as part of a continent-wide accountability effort.
It also recognised digital technology and open data as potentially important tools for improving accountability.
Participants stressed the importance of budget transparency, procurement monitoring, and citizen oversight, warning that technology-driven accountability initiatives must also guard against digital exclusion and manipulation.
They called for international cooperation in tracing and recovering assets associated with illicit financial flows, sanctions against facilitators and the development of an African Transparency Index on corporate corruption and bribery.
Participants insisted that accountability should not be limited to government institutions alone but should also apply to corporations, philanthropy, and civil society organisations, and committed to building a Pan-African accountability movement linking accountability efforts to development outcomes and the everyday experiences of citizens.
They called for African-centred approaches to anti-corruption research and knowledge, while maintaining universal standards of integrity and justice.
A central theme of the document is the need to move beyond statements of intent to measurable action.
Participants therefore committed to developing a practical implementation framework containing clear responsibilities, timelines, and indicators, as well as continuing Pan-African dialogue, supporting citizen-led initiatives led by women and youth, strengthening independent oversight institutions, expanding civic education, improving cross-border cooperation on illicit financial flows, using technology and open data, protecting journalists and whistle-blowers, and periodically reviewing progress.
The Declaration called on African governments, the African Union, parliaments, judiciaries, civil society, media organisations, businesses, philanthropies, and citizens to contribute to building a new accountability movement across the continent.
It specifically called for political leaders to demonstrate that no one is above accountability and no public office is private property, while urging citizens to reclaim their role as custodians of public power and resources.
It also called for institutions to protect their independence and integrity, civil society and philanthropy to build citizen-owned movements, the media to strengthen investigative journalism, and women and young people to help lead the next generation of accountability initiatives.
In setting out its collective resolve, the Declaration identified seven major shifts it wants to see in Africa’s approach to accountability: from anti-corruption to accountability; from accountability from above to accountability from above and below; from institutional form to institutional integrity; from prosecution alone to prevention and systemic reform; from citizen spectatorship to citizen agency; from imported prescriptions to contextually grounded African approaches; and from fragmented interventions to a Pan-African movement.
It concluded with a vision of an Africa where power is treated as a public trust, institutions are stronger than individuals, citizens can demand answers, corruption has certain consequences, and leaders are accountable to the people.
