Segun Atanda/
Concerns have been raised over the refusal of some state governments to encourage transparency and citizen engagement by implementing the Open Government Partnership (OGP) two years after Nigeria endorsed the Open Government Declaration.
A coalition of Civil Society Organizations working towards the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) raised the concern on Wednesday during a workshop at the Centre for Sustainable Development (CESDEV), in Bodija, Ibadan.
The Civil Society Coalition on Sustainable Development (CSCSD) South-West zone decried the non-implementation of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) by most states of the federation after two years that Nigeria has endorsed it.
Delivering a welcome address at a one-day capacity-building programme for member organizations on Social Accountability as an entry point to implement Open Government Commitments for members of the network at the Centre for Sustainable Development (CESDEV) of the University of Ibadan, the South-West coordinator of the Coalition, Mr. Adesina Adefolahan said that at the moment only seven states including Kano, Ebonyi, Anambra, Niger, Abia, Enugu and Kaduna had signed into the OGP.
He added that it was unfortunate that no state in the South-West had signed towards the implementation of the Partnership.
He said, “The clarion call therefore becomes imperative for other states to embrace and sign into the OGP. This would no doubt demonstrate a minimum level of commitment to open government principles in four key areas of Fiscal Transparency, Access to Information, Income and Asset Disclosures, and Citizen Engagement.”
Earlier, in his message to declare the workshop open, the Director of Centre for Sustainable Development (CESDEV) Professor Olanrewaju Olaniyan said that it was high time that people should begin to monitor development process.
The training was aimed primarily at equipping participants with the skills and organizational capacity to conduct effective and innovative citizen’s engagement for social accountability and OGP.
The Open Government Partnership was formally launched on September 20, 2011, when the eight (8) founding governments of (Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States) endorsed the Open Government Declaration and announced their country action plans. Nigeria was formally admitted into OGP in July 2016. The National Action Plan was approved in December 2016 and the implementation started in January 2017.
Adefolahan said, “Social accountability requires that as citizens we need to shift from the apathy that citizens have often shown in their governance. As such, Political office holders and those that we have elected to represent us have often taken this apathy for granted at the detriment of those of us who have surrendered our mandate to them at the polls. The situation on ground is that as soon as elections are concluded and they were sworn-in, they have assumed the position of masters. Whereas, reverse should be the case. Citizens often find it difficult to engage our political representatives meaningfully on feedback because they have not really signed any pact with them except through campaigns and the voting. For us as a nation, there is need to wake up from our slumber and the citizens should begin to set agenda for our political office holders and candidates about what we want from them before they are elected.
“Taking into consideration our role as a critical stakeholder in the development agenda of our various states, the time is now to ensure that our party candidates and political office holders are accountable to the citizens who have surrendered their mandate to them at the polls. This calls for partnership with other relevant stakeholders such as the Labour groups, media, women groups, professional groups and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that a good social accountability pact is signed with them ahead of the 2019 elections in respect of the agenda that they have for the citizens of the states if given the mandate.”
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