The Ebonyi State government has signed up to open governance, a global practice on transparency and accountability, and organised a workshop to enlighten the public and civil society on it.
The workshop which lasted for three days was put together to encourage civil society to engage with the government as well as to work out permanent mechanisms for the sustenance of the initiative in the state.
Speaking during the workshop, the state governor, David Umahi, reiterated the commitment of the administration to leadership modelled on the global best practices.
This he explained, included embracing the principles of transparency, accountability and responsiveness as yardsticks in government, assuring that the government was ready to truly participate in the global initiative, the Open Government Partnership.
The governor disclosed that he had to personally sign the letter of intent as a major condition and qualification for entry into the programme. He recalled that the government had been practicing a form of open government by way of town-hall meetings and live airing of the state budget presentation.
The governor expressed the hope that with the mutual cooperation of both the public sector and the civil society, the state would be elevated to the dream-height of a model sub-national entity, and appealed to the international agencies to support the state.
He gave the assurance that, “OGP in Ebonyi is a programme matched with implementation”.
Earlier in her opening speech the OGP state focal person, Mrs. Ugo Nnachi, emphasised that OGP was going to further strengthen determination to embrace the principles of transparency and citizen engagement.
She then called on international agencies to support the government in the OGP implementation, assuring that government had started aligning the governance processes to the OGP principles.
Mrs. Nnachi encouraged the civil society to stand to present an agreed, coherent and concrete stance with government in the process of determining and implementation of commitments. She explained that, “the OGP process is about co-creation, co-monitor and co-review”.
Also addressing participants during the workshop the representative of the Open Government Partnership National Coordinator, Dr. Haruna Abdullahi, said that OGP was a multi-national initiative for the institution of open governance, the aim of which was to enshrine the culture of transparency, accountability and responsiveness.
Dr. Abdullahi stated further that the process would be through the collaboration of government and members of the civil society organisations in order to secure concrete commitments, promote open governance, empower citizens and fight corruption through new technologies and innovations.
Relating the history of OGP from inception at the international level in 2011 through the admission of Nigeria in 2016, the National Coordinator’s representative said that the process was being replicated at the sub-national level in Ebonyi and called on participants to tune their minds and understanding to the process as would be made clear in the course of the workshop.
The three-day workshop was action-packed, with participants from both the public sector and the civil society organization showing high enthusiasm and dedication.
The programme, which was carefully packaged for the enlightenment of participants, had speakers and resource persons drawn from institutions that were directly or indirectly linked with the business of open government and transparency.
With separate days allotted for the public sector and civil society participants, instruction materials and topics were carefully chosen to delve deep into the meaning, scope, operation and the structure of the Open Government Partnership.
The result of the workshop was the identification commitments based on the four thematic areas, and the formulation of the OGP steering committee drawn on equal basis from the state actors and non-state actors.
It was all the more fulfilling as participants showed clear understanding of the contents of the workshop, and thus, the process of the Open Government Partnership, judging by the quality of questions with which they challenged instructors, and how eagerly the technical sessions were carried on and generally participated in.
As a parting message, the state focal person enjoined all (citizens, commissioners, technocrats, etc) to rally round to make a success of the OGP process in the state.
She reiterated that co-creation was key in making OGP work and called for sustained high-level commitment and constructive citizen engagement for enduring reforms to be sustained.
