Minister confirms Nigeria’s election into OGP for another three years

By Tony Obiechina, Abuja

Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, on Thursday, confirmed that Nigeria had been elected to serve for another three years on the Open Government Partnership (OGP) International Committee.

Declaring open the 13th OGP National Steering Committee meeting in Abuja, the minister said that the election was because of Nigeria’s global recognition of its reform agenda in open, transparent and accountable governance process.

“It was not so much of a nomination. It was an election. We went along with others and we came out victorious. We will be starting a second term from tomorrow (October I, 2021) for another three years.

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“Nigeria has emerged the most impactful under National Action Plan (NAP) 1 and the outcome will be announced in the global OGP summit scheduled to hold in December 2021.

“We have also put in nomination for the position of co-chair on the international steering committee and the election comes up on october 14, this year. Hopefully we will be successful and we will take over the co-chairmanship in October 2022” he said.

The minister, therefore, commended the civil society organisations and the committee members for their efforts to operationalise and institutionalise the reform agenda of the government anchored on open, transparent and accountable governance.

“Nigeria’s efforts are being recognised globally especially its recent nomination to serve a second tenure of three years on the OGP International Committee,” he added.

“We have also put in nomination for the position of co-chair on the international steering committee and the election comes up on october 14, this year. Hopefully we will be successful and we will take over the co-chairmanship in October 2022” he declared.

“In a related development, Nigeria’s entry for the most impactful commitments under NAP I has been sent to the International Reporting Mechanism (IRM) for assessment. The outcome will be announced in the global OGP international summit scheduled to hold in South Korea in December, 2021” the minister further said.

Recall that Nigeria which signed up to this global initiative since 2016 is implementing the second successive National Action Plan.

The first NAP was implemented between 2017 and 2019, while the second is being implemented between 2019 and 2022.

The International OGP body has an Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM that monitors all action plans of countries to ensure governments follow through on commitments.