OGP: Citizens’ groups verify open governance commitment areas for Kaduna State

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

Some citizens’ groups on Tuesday verified the commitment areas they nominated to inform the third State Action Plan (SAP) for its Open Government Partnership (OGP).
The verification meeting, held in Kaduna, was supported by Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL), a governance programme of the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
The OGP is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote open governance, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.
The Kaduna State Government joined the OGP in 2018 and developed its first Action Plan, 2018 to 2020, while the second Action Plan, 2021 to 2023 elapsed in March.
The first action plan focused on open budget, citizens’ engagement, and access to information, open contacting, and ease of doing business.
The second action plan focused on open budget, open contracting, citizens’ engagement, strengthening social protection systems and improving service delivery in health and education sectors.
To ensure sustainability of open governance in the state, citizens’ groups in March met and nominated some commitment areas to inform the third State Action Plan of the OGP.
Mr Philip Yatai, Citizens Co-chair, OGP Technical Working Group (TWG) on Strengthening Social Protection systems said that the objective of the meeting was to review and validate the nominated commitment.
Yatai added that the meeting was also to set agender and develop strategy for the civil society members of the third State Action Plan drafting committee.
The OGP Citizens Co-chair in the state, Hajiya Hadiza Umar, described the verification as critical to getting the bye-in of the new administrating taking off on May 29.
Umar explained that the meeting provides citizens in the state to nominate commitment areas that resonate with the public to inform the third state action plan.
She noted that the co-creation principle of the OGP between the government and citizens had strengthened citizens’ participation in governance, thereby strengthening transparency and accountability.
“This is a critical moment for us as citizens to continue to have a space at the discussion table for inclusive and people-oriented governance.
“Let us make the best use of the opportunity by ensuring that whatever commitments we are verifying are critical, deliverable and will get the buy-in of the incoming government,” she said.
On his part, PERL State Lead Facilitator, Mr Abel Adejor, stressed the need for citizens to consolidate on the gains so far recorded from SAP I and SAP II.