COVID-19: New governance strategy must be inclusive, says experts

By Adeola Ogunlade

A Governance and Public Policy Expert, Nasiru lngawa has advised government and other institutions to ensure that adapting the new methods of governance occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic must be participatory and inclusive of needs and expectations of the rural poor within the society.

Ingawa, who was joined by Egghead Odewale, Director General, Ekiti State Bureau for Public Procurement on the panel made this known at the “Government – Citizens Engagement in the Era of Social Distancing” Webinar organised recently by iEngage.

IEngage is a support-facilitating platform for Governments and Civil Society Organizations towards achieving effective and engaging citizenry in the governance process

The Webinar tagged: Improving government-citizens engagement capability – a response strategy for states and federal government in the era of social distancing brought together government officials, public affairs analyst, media and civil society groups both within and outside the country. He said that in order for citizens to accept any kind of change, they must be part of the process for that change.

He stated that the COVID-19 pandemic challenge is not only economic or social, it is also a threat to democratic governance as it has exposed the pervasive weakness in our governance system.

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He said “Citizens are willing to embrace the new ways of democratic governance, but we must make sure that the governance is participatory and when these policies are coming, it should come up with the Initiatives that are co-creative.

He opined that adopted the new normal of e- governance across the country can lead to exclusion of the urban poor because the number of urban and rural poor that have access to the internet, smart phones and other devices is quite limited.

“We need to co-create some of our interventions and policies. For the citizens to latch on these, government must keep its eyes on the pulse of the people, to be aware of the social, political and economy sentiment of the people”, he said.

Also, Egghead Odewale, adding to the discussion by sharing good practices in citizens engagement mentioned that Ekiti State Government, understanding the negative consequences of not engaging citizens in the governance process has opened up traditional and digital platforms to engaged citizens in the state in the wake of this pandemic.

“As it relates to public procurement activities, we ensure transparency with our vendors, contractors and locals even in the midst of COVID-19, pandemic as channels of communication are open and feedbacks given at the appropriate time”.

Odewale noted that government is not limiting its interface with Ekiti people through online communication but offline and traditional medium which include: Town Hall meetings, face to face interactions, village square and theatre performance in local Communities.

Jason Lakin, a Senior Research Fellow at the International Budget Partnership (IBP) shared cases of good practices across the globe on how CSOs can mobilize and sustain engagements with both the citizens and governments. In a session, moderated by Moji Akpoyijovbi, a Public Policy consultant.

In his presentation, he urged CSOs to focus more on budget changes in this era of pandemic and engage governments to link activities to performance and strengthen oversight procedures. As there are emergency funds and off-budget resources, it is important that CSOs pay close attention to how these resources are being utilized.

According to Jason, leveraging media, technology and CSOs existing structures can help enhance capability for more engagement in this era.

Earlier, in his words, the Co-founder of iEngage Adedotun Seyingbo said that the Webinar is geared towards achieving effective citizens engagement, which is a critical element of the good governance campaign, and the motivation was as a result of the pandemic which has led to certain policy measures which include physical distancing.

He noted that before the pandemic, there have been issues around Government-citizen engagement. The pandemic further made government citizens engagement issues more pronounced necessitating the need to have conversations around developing strategies for citizens government engagement.