The
Honourable Minister of Youth Development Dr. Jamila Bio Ibrahim who serves as
the State Co-Chair, OGP Nigeria, revealed that the Nigeria Open Government Partnership (OGP) is ready to
deepen governance reforms as well as promote the fight against corruption in
the country in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s cardinal objective of
fighting corruption and growing the economy.
She made
this known while delivering her opening remarks during the OGP Nigeria Review
and Strategy Conference held in Abuja today.
She
described Nigeria's journey with the OGP since its inception in the country as
a significant progress in enhancing transparency, citizen engagement and good
governance. She said, “The OGP principles have been instrumental in addressing
corruption and fostering accountable practices in the country; the successful
implementation of OGP initiatives, especially in citizens' participation,
beneficial ownership transparency and freedom of information, highlights the
potential for further positive impact.”
The Minister
appreciated President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for taking open governance ideals and
situating them adequately in his 8-point agenda, saying the administration has
further demonstrated its support for open governance, transparency, and accountability
by re-launching the Citizens Delivery Portal (app.cdcu.gov.ng) to give citizens
the opportunity to assess government’s delivery of the 8 priority areas and
provide necessary feedback to enhance implementation.
She
underscored OGP Nigeria milestones so far to include the institutionalization
of OGP principles in Nigeria; approval of Nigeria’s membership of the OGP
Global Beneficial Ownership Leadership Group by the former President Muhammadu
Buhari; establishment of the Nigerian Open Contracting and Procurement Portal
(NOCOPPO), where citizens can monitor all government procurement processes in a
transparent manner. She said, “We are currently improving this system to
achieve greater effectiveness.”
The
Co-Chair, Non-State Actors, Mrs Obialunanma Nnaobi-Ayodele, while delivering
her opening remarks, emphasized that the Open Government Partnership is not a
stand-alone initiative; it is rather a platform that brings together
governments on-going and future reform initiatives that support transparency,
accountability and deepen the rule of law.
She
disclosed that a lot of work has been done, and significant improvements in
participatory budgeting, company ownership transparency, fiscal transparency
reforms at sub-national levels amongst others have been recorded. She said,
“The Nigerian Open Contracting Portal (NOCOPO) needs to be fully functional to
increase openness and transparency in public procurement, citizens still need
to be sensitized and their capacity developed to be able to fully engage in the
process.
Earlier, the
National Coordinator, Dr. Gloria Ahmed who gave the welcome remarks, charged
participants to a collective and concerted effort at ensuring that commitments
are delivered within the agreed timeline.
She extolled
the Non-State and State Actors for galvanizing the needed momentum to drive the
process in order to keep OGP Nigeria afloat by championing reforms that have
brought Nigeria to limelight.
The
conference focused on 8 years of OGP implementation in Nigeria and the journey
ahead with the objective to review, re-strategize and reposition OGP