The African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD) under its project “Deepening Transparency and Accountability in the governance process through the implementation of Open Government Partnership in Nigeria” with support from MacArthur Foundation, will on 22nd November 2022 kickstart training on the open government partnership (OGP) in Gombe state.
A press statement by the Program Coordinator of Centre LSD, Mr. Lawal Amodu, stated that the training which is targeted at 50 state and 40 non state actors in the state, and will culminate into the development of the State Action Plan, is meant to bring the State and non state actors up to speed on the understanding of the OGP principles to facilitate a smooth implementation of the state action plan.
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.
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.”
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