Centre-LSD develops FCT Area Council’s OGP action plan - ITREALMS

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To onboard Local Government Areas unto the Open Government Partnership (OGP), the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD) under its project “Promoting Transparency and Accountability in the governance process through the implementation of Open Government Partnership in Nigeria” on 13th June 2024, commenced a two-day workshop for the development of OGP Local Action Plan for Gwagwalada Area Council of the FCT.

The Programme Coordinator of Centre LSD, Mr. Lawal Amodu, in a press statement available to ITREALMS said that the two days event is expected to produce a plan that will guide the Area Council in the implementation of the OGP for the next two years.

Centre LSD mentors Delta State OGP administrators - ITREALMS

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The African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD) in furtherance of its project “Promoting Transparency and Accountability in the governance process through the implementation of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in Nigeria,” reports ITREALMS.

A press statement available to ITREALMS, the centre informed that the mentorship session is with the support of the MacArthur Foundation, Wednesday April 19th, 2023, commenced mentoring support for Delta States OGP administrators.

Tipping balance towards openness by Paul Maassen - ITREALMS

Commentary@ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

When I started at OGP 10 years ago, I could not have imagined where OGP, the community, and the world would be now. Back in 2012, I was excited by the simplicity and energy of the original idea of OGP: Creating space for civil society leaders to work on an equal footing with reformers inside government, to jointly push for domestically relevant reforms that would make government work better for and with the people.

By 2017, I was excited to see the OGP approach starting to work. Plans got better, the community grew, OGP mechanisms were refined, and reforms were delivered.

Imo explains partnership with OGP – ITREALMS

ITREALMS: 

The Imo State Governor, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, has said the state Government applied to join the Open Government Partnership (OGP) as one of the ways of entrenching transparency in public service, reports ITREALMS.

Governor Ihedioha who gave the explanation while receiving a delegation of the British High Commission to Nigeria, Tuesday, listed other governance reforms initiatives introduced by his administration to mainstream accountability in governance.

Represented by the Deputy Governor, Engr. Gerald Irona, the Governor described Imo as an investment-friendly state, reiterating the commitment of his administration to partner international organizations in ensuring good governance in the state.

“In Imo State, we are highly enterprising people and we are investor-friendly. We have very huge potentials in tourism, agriculture and education. We inherited a state with decayed infrastructure and poor morale of citizens, occasioned by poor governance. Pensioners were owed for over eighty months and the Governor has now started paying. Governor Emeka Ihedioha has taken steps towards restoring public confidence in governance, with rule of law as a cardinal principle. We met an Internally Generated Revenue- IGR base of N258m monthly. His Excellency introduced reforms to entrench transparency and accountability in governance. Through Order 005, the Treasury Single Account -TSA was introduced and as a result, so many leakages in revenue have been blocked. Last month, we generated over N800m, as against N258m that we inherited as IGR.”

“We are implementing the IPPC accounting standards. We have applied to join the Open Government Partnership-OGP, as one of our transparency initiatives. We are opening up the government for citizens’ scrutiny and participation. We have opened an Efficiency Unit in the Ministry of Finance, with a view to reducing the cost of governance. We are investment-friendly and the Governor has set up a desk for ease of doing business in the state. We seek investments in the areas of Power, Agriculture and Tourism. Imo State is willing and ready to partner with the DFID.”

Earlier in her presentation, British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing said they were in the state to identify areas of possible support through the Department for International Development.

“We are in your state to get a better understanding of what is on the ground, with a view to knowing how we can support governance in Imo State. We have programmes that will be beneficial to you. We also wish to understand the challenges you are facing in the state.”

Uboshe Uboshe/Editor

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OGP and Imo’s Good Governance Voyage-1 - ITREALMS

MidWeekCommentary@ITREALMS: 

One of the cheering news in Imo State today is that the administration of Governor Emeka Ihedioha has submitted a Letter of Intent to join the Open Government Partnership, Nigeria. This confirmation came from the Secretariat of OGP Nigeria, Abuja. The implication is that the state has made some commitments in the area of Open Government.

Imo State government sources identified some of the commitments made by the state to include: Access to Information, Anti Corruption, Open Budgeting, Fiscal transparency, Open Contracting and Citizens Engagement.

Enquiry at the OGP National Secretariat revealed that a Letter of Acceptance of Application to Imo State has already been signed by the Attorney General and Minister for Justice and will likely arrive Owerri, the State capital this week.

Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative that focuses on improving government transparency, accountability and responsiveness to citizens through technology and innovations. It was launched in 2011 by eight founding member-countries, following their endorsement of the Open Government Declaration. The eight countries are: Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, The Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States of America.

Nigeria joined the OGP in July 2016, two months after President Muhammadu Buhari attended the Anti- Corruption Summit organised by the government of the United Kingdom in May, 2016. At the Summit, the Nigerian President reaffirmed his government’s commitment to strengthening anti-corruption reforms and bringing integrity to governance through leadership by example. He announced Nigeria’s commitment to Global Open Government Partnership principles and directed the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to implement the commitments made in London.

ALSO READ: 100 days of Emeka Ihedioha by Chris Uruakpa - ITREALMS

In July, 2016, the Federal Ministry of Justice, under the leadership of Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, organised a Stakeholders session on the OGP to identify members of the Steering Committee and to discuss the implementation framework of the OGP Principles. One of the highlights of the meeting was the self-selection of the Civil Society representatives at the Steering Committee. Subsequent meetings were held, where the Action Plan and other related issues were discussed.

For OGP to be operational in any state, such a state is required to implement commitments made by the state government; endorse a high-level Open Government Declaration; deliver a state action plan developed with public consultation (government and civil society); Commit to independent reporting on their progress and contribute to peer learning.

Now that the administration of Chief Emeka Ihedioha, pursuant to his electoral promise of entrenching good governance has commenced this journey, steps need to be taken to close the gaps identified in the process.

For the first time in eight years, Imo State annual Budget is online- on the state official website. This is part of the proactive disclosure obligations of the state government under the FOI Act. This, no doubt is a step in the right direction.

The giant strides of the Governor Emeka Ihedioha-led administration in the areas of ease of doing business and open contracting cannot also go without mention.

However, there is need for a stakeholders’ session for state and non-state actors on OGP implementation in the state. The need for members of the state steering committee to emerge cannot be overemphasized.

Again, pursuant to the commitments, there is need for efforts to be fast-tracked towards adopting the Freedom of Information Act in the State. The summary of commitments on Access to Information is implementation of the FOI Act in Imo State. Although the FOI Act is applicable in all states of the federation, having an Imo State version will further show the commitment of the present administration in Imo State to transparency principles.

There is no gainsaying the fact that the present administration in Imo State, led by Governor Emeka Ihedioha is committed to entrenching openness and accountability in governance. This indeed, is a new beginning for Imo State.

While we await a Letter from the OGP Nigeria National Secretariat, accepting Imo State’s application, the foundation needs to be laid for a smooth implementation of OGP principles in Imo State.

Steps need to be taken to make Imo citizens own the OGP process, to ensure effective implementation, lest it becomes another elitist initiative.

The time to act is now!

*Dr. Walter Duru, a Communication expert is a member of the National Steering Committee of OGP, Nigeria, where he co-chairs the Access to Information Working Group. He also chairs the Board of the Freedom of Information Coalition, Nigeria.
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OGP: Abuja to host Stewardship Accountability Forum

ITREALMS:

The African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development has concluded plans to host the Stewardship Accountability Forum (National Town Hall Meeting) on day 4 of the week which is Thursday, 10th May 2018 in Abuja, reports ITRealms.

The national town hall meeting, ITRealms gathered is the with support from the MacArthur Foundation, on the heels of activities to mark the Global Open Government Partnership (OGP) week holding from 7th to 11th May 2018.

According to the Programmes Coordinator and OGP Focal Person of the Centre, Mr. Uchenna Arisukwu, this forum has been designed to give a broad spectrum of citizens, including the Civil Society Organisation (CSO), private sector, media among others the avenue to engage policymakers and duty bearers to render stewardship on the work they are doing around the 14 commitments of Nigeria’s National Action Plan on the Open Government Partnership and to make demands on how they are making the governance process open, transparent and accountable.

As said by him, a high-level panel comprising the Secretary to the Federal Government Mr. Boss Mustapha, the Head of Service, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, the Minister for Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, The Solicitor-General of the Federation, Barrister Dayo Akpata, and Dr. Garba Abari, Director-General of the National Orientation Agency will be on hand to engage and interact with citizens drawn from across the Country on the efforts the government is making on the OGP.

The Global OGP Week is a period for Open Government Practitioners from around to come together to share ideas, discuss solutions and commit to new levels of citizen participation in government. As well as evaluate progress made on their National Action Plans of respective countries.

The statement further enjoined Nigerian citizens to follow the event on social media to engage and interact with the panel. 

#OpenGovWeek #OGPNigeria #OGPOpenNigeria

Nenye Dom/ED, Ops

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