By Philip Yatai
Some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) under the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in Kaduna State have developed targets and milestones for the proposed OGP commitment areas to inform the State Action Plan (SAP) III, 2023 – 2025.
The CSOs have proposed seven commitment areas for the OGP SAP III, currently before the State Executive Council for approval.
The commitment areas are Strengthening Participatory Budgeting Process, Open Contracting Data Standard and Open Contracting for Infrastructural Data Standard and Strengthening Social Protection Systems.
Others are Access to Information to Strengthen Citizens Engagement in Governance, Strengthening Inclusive Service Delivery in Education, Strengthening Civic Participation to Improve Service Delivery in Health, and Strengthen Open Parliament.
Mr Philip Yatai, the outgoing Citizens Co-chair, OGP Technical Working Group on Strengthening Social Protection Systems said that the development of activities for the SAP III was to consolidate on SAP II successes.
Yatai added that the meeting was also to agree on milestones and targets for the action plan, with emphasis on activities and milestones that were achievable.
He said that the meeting was organised with support from Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL), a governance programme of the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
Hajiya Hadiza Umar, Citizens Co-chair, OGP, commended PERL for the support, which she described as “critical” to the drive for open governance in Kaduna State.
Umar urged the participants from different OGP TWGs, accountability mechanisms and coalitions to identify mainly activities and targets that would be achieved with ease.
“We need to come up with targets that will be easy to achieve such that beyond ticking the box, the achievements will be meaningful and add value to the life of citizens,” she said.
Mr Tara Jeremiah, OGP Point of Contact, Planning and Budget Commission, also urged participants to consider the challenges in the implementation of SAP II while developing the new activities.
Jerimiah disclosed that the memo for the proposed commitment areas for the SAP II had been submitted to the Executive Council for approval and expressed hope for positive feedback within the week.
He also said that the OGP Government Co-chair, Hajiya Umma Aboki, has asked that a memo be developed for the use of Citizens Demand Portal to harvest the Community Demand Charter (CDC) to inform the state budget.
According to him, Aboki, who is also the Commissioner for Planning and Budget Commission wants the CDC to serve as a model for participatory budgeting process.
“This will ensure seamless harvest of community needs by relevant Ministries, Department and Agencies to inform the state budget.”
Also, Mr Abel Adejor, State Lead Facilitator, PERL, commended the citizens groups for the sustained engagement of the governance process to ensure transparency and accountability.
According to Adejor, the main goal of engaging the governance process is to improve service delivery that will generally improve the wellbeing of the people.
He noted that developing the activities, milestones and targets for the commitment areas was a good way to strengthen the open governance process in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the OGP is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from national and sub-national governments.
The commitments are designed to promote open government, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.
In OGP, governments work with civil society to create action plans with concrete reforms, a model that helps ensure citizens play a role in shaping and overseeing government. (NAN)
