15 States Yet to Sign up for Responsive Governance, Says Minister

 Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja      

The Minister of State, Budget and National Planning,  Mr. Clem  Agba,  at the weekend disclosed that 15  states were yet to sign the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Initiative for responsive governance.

Agba said this while addressing journalists as part of activities to mark the OGP week in Abuja.
According to him, the OGP week is an annual event set aside by the OGP Global Secretariat to celebrate the wins of the initiative across the world.

He said that the OGP was a global multilateral forum consisting of 78 countries and 76 sub nationals, who committed to various transparency and accountability reforms for improved service delivery of its citizenry.
He added that   President Muhammadu Buhari signed into the initiative in 2016 in his desire to stamp out corruption.

He said that after joining the OGP, Nigeria developed the first and second National Action Plans around four thematic areas of fiscal transparency, access to information, anti-corruption, and citizens engagement.
“Fifteen states of the 36 states of the Federation are yet to sign unto the OGP platform.

“I, therefore, encourage states who have not adopted the OGP to do so without any further delay, being a viable platform for ensuring more responsive governance.

“We have recorded some stories while implementing our laudable OGP programs; today in Nigeria, the budgetary process is a lot more inclusive, participatory, and accessible than it has ever been.

“All the different stages of the budget process are now participatory, citizens now engage and participate effectively in the process.

”As a matter of fact, the budget document has been  simplified such that it is all available at the click of a button.”
Agba advised citizens to deliberately play active roles in monitoring the budget and government projects for effective implementation.

He said the government developed a portal and recently developed an App called the “eye mark” to help citizens participate in the budgetary process.

”We’re also working on the web App because now we want citizens to see what the government is doing.
“We want citizens to be able to see projects that are done by the government.

“We want citizens to be able to touch and feel the projects that are done by the government so that we no longer have a situation where a world-class bridge is said to be built where what we see years after is a wooden bridge.”