Open governance: Centre lauds Gombe govt, seeks implementation of OGP action plan
The African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (CentreLSD), on Friday commended the Gombe State government for signing onto the Open Government Partnership(OGP) initiative to ensure transparency in the administration of the state.
Mr Monday Osasah, Executive Director, CentreLSD gave the commendation in Gombe during an interview with journalists at the closing ceremony of a three-day training for state and non-state actors in Gombe State.
Osasah rated Gombe State high on open governance and transparency which he said the people of the state were already enjoying the benefit of embracing openness in governance.
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He said that the willingness expressed by the state government to run open governance which resulted into signing the OGP, necessitated the training.
He said the training was to build the capacities of stakeholders as well as develop the OGP State Action Plan (SAP) for Gombe State.
“In the last count, we had 25 states signed up to the open government partnership and we are happy that Gombe State is part of that number.
“I will rate Gombe State very high because OGP means that the government has opened the door for the citizens to participate in governance.
“That is a whole degree of success. For a state to be a part of the OGP, there is usually a letter of intent personally signed by the governor of the state.
“Gov. Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State has committed to transparency and accountability.
“So when you see development going forward, you will know that it is because of the political will and action of the governor that is translating into all these developments.”
Osasah said that open remained key to driving the transparency and accountability policy of any government which he said when implemented would help deepen the fight against corruption which had been the bane of development in the country.
He said that CentreLSD and its partners were committed to ensuring that all states in the country signed unto the OGP.
He said the training of stakeholders in Gombe State was to empower them to develop an OGP State Action Plan (SAP) for Gombe State and now we are appealing to the state government to implement the plan for the benefit of the citizens.
“Signing up is one thing, operationalising is another and the only instrument for the operationalisation of the open government partnership in a state is the State Action Plan (SAP).”
“We call on the Gombe State government to continue to support the OGP, implement the SAP being worked on and create a budget line for OGP in the next budget.”
One of the participants, Mr Ibrahim Yusuf, the Gombe State chairman of Association of Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) said the training was timely in view of the need to ensure citizen’s participation in governance.
Yusuf said the participation of citizens in how their state was being run would help them ask questions and demand accountability which would help in the fight against corruption.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the training was organised by CentreLSD with support from MacArthur Foundation
