By Stanley Onyekwere
The Chairman, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Hon. Abdullahi Adamu Candido has called for transparency in the conduct of Government business, so as to ensure people understand and appreciate happenings at the Government circle at any point in time.
Candido made this assertion in his opening remarks at a-three-Day workshop of Open Government Partnership (OGP) sensitisation and Action Plan Development organised by the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (CLSD) in collaboration with Abuja Municipal Area Council currently going on in Keffi, Nasarawa state.
He noted stated that lack of transparency and accountability make things difficult in governance as citizens will not understand what government is doing which in turns develop to lack of trust.
According to him, his administration will remain focused and committed to transparency and accountability irrespective of intimidation and harassment from some quarters which informs why the council is now a member of global OGP.
He explained that the workshop, which has some key AMAC staff, who are directly working on the OGP in the Council, and members of some Civil Society Groups is focusing on developing Action Plan for the operation of OGP in the Council.
Furthermore, the AMAC Chairman, assured that things are being done differently now in the Council in an attempt to enhance service delivery.
He also thanked Civil Society Groups who are partnering with the Council in the initiative, and for bringing the opportunity for the council to improve its skill through this workshop, while calling for more partnership.
The Chairman also expressed optimism that successive administrations in the Council would key into it with their political wills to push further for such partnerships, so as to move the Council forward, and not bring it backward.
Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a global coalition of reformers from government and Civil Society working to make government transparent, participatory and accountable to truly serve and empower citizens.
Also, it’s a platform for governments, civil society actors and other stakeholders interested in working together to make government more open and accountable.
It would be recalled that Abuja Municipal Area Council became a member of global OGP in 2020, as the only local government in Nigeria that has signed up to the OGP.
Equally, OGP currently has 79 countries in its membership including Nigeria who also became member in 2016.
