Nigeria committed to the objectives of OGP, says Prince Agba

Minister of State for Budget and National Planning and Public Sector Co-chair, Open Government Partnership (OGP) Nigeria, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, has reiterated the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to the ideals of OGP which, he said, were hinged on transparency, accountability and openness in governance.

Prince Agba, who made this known at a media parley to mark the 2022 global OGP week, on Friday, said since this administration came on board in 2015, Nigeria had developed two National Actions Plans (NAPs) to open up governance and make it all inclusive.

“The OGP week is an annual event set aside by the OGP Global Secretariat to celebrate OGP wins and efforts across the world,” he said.

Agba recalled that in 2015, when President Buhari assumed office, he was very clear and unequivocal in his desire to stamp out corruption and reverse the culture of graft in Nigeria, which was one of the major planks of his campaign promises, hence the signing of Nigeria into OGP

According to the minister, the NAPs were developed to meet with the objectives of OGP

The minister said the first NAP (1) was developed around four thematic areas of fiscal transparency, access to information, anti-corruption and citizens engagement and contained 14 commitments and operated from January 2017 – June 2019.

“NAP II was developed at the expiration of NAP I and contains 16 commitments organised around areas of fiscal transparency, access to information, anti-corruption and citizen engagement, extractive transparency, inclusion and diversity and service delivery. The addition of three thematic areas in NAP II was a result of our reflections and the lessons learned from the implementation of NAP I.

“NAP II will elapse by August this year and NAP III is already in the works. We are working very hard to get the new NAP in place before the expiration of the current one. Let me at this juncture encourage all citizens to make their input and their voices heard in the development of NAP III, which is at the Public Consultation stage. I therefore invite well-meaning Nigerians to engage this critical national document and contribute their ideas into its finalization. You can do so by visiting the OGP Nigeria Twitter page @OGP Nigeria or sending an sms to 08035952311 for a quick link to access the preliminary NAP III document,” said the minister.

All these, according to the minister, were to promote transparency, inclusiveness and participatory in governance.

“As you may all be aware, the Open Government Partnership is a global multilateral forum consisting of 78 countries and 76 sub-nationals, who have committed to various transparency and accountability reforms, for improved service delivery of its citizenry. These reforms are premised on policy and institutional setup, with the active and equal participation of civil society in ensuring a more coordinated approach to its implementation. The OGP remains a viable platform for CSOs to constructively engage Governments on an operational basis, thereby ensuring a more responsive governance.

“Therefore, it was not surprising when at the Anti-Corruption conference in London, Mr President committed Nigeria to the Open Government Declaration and subsequently signed Nigeria into the Open Government Partnership. Nigeria therefore became the 70th country to join the OGP initiative in 2016,” the minister noted.

He intimated the audience, which included journalists, of some of the achievements and success stories “we have so far recorded while implementing our laudable OGP programme. Today in Nigeria, the budgetary process is a lot more inclusive, participatory, and accessible that it had ever been. All the different stages of the budget process are now participatory; citizens now engage and participate effectively in the budget process. As a matter of fact, the budget document and the simplified citizens budget are all available at the click of a button.

“Additionally, procurement processes are now open and transparent, courtesy of the OGP. The Bureau for Public Procurement during the implementation of NAP I developed the NOCOPO portal where all government procurement processes are available and accessible at the click of a button. This is in line with global open contracting data standards. The NOCOPO portal can be accessed at nocopo.bpp.gov.ng. Be informed however that the site is undergoing upgrade to improve user interface and interoperability.

“Permit me to also inform you all about the hosting of the Beneficial Ownership (BO) register of public companies. The BO register, when fully operational, will help check cases of illicit financial flows, graft and abuse of office by public servants. It will help intensify the fight against corruption. Consequent upon the above, our dear country won an award at the last OGP Global Summit held in Seoul, South Korea, in December 2021. I received the award only last Monday from the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, for onward presentation to President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR.”

The minister expressed gratitude and appreciation to Buhari for his vision and commitment in signing Nigeria to the OGP platform.

“That singular step in the right direction has set the country on the path of good governance and sustainable development. The political will and investment the President has invested in the OGP process is worth celebrating.”

He also expressed appreciation to ‘our partners who have stood by us and supported us all through the OGP journey from its inception. Worthy of mention here is the Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) a programme funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO). PERL consistently supported the development of NAPs I and II and their subsequent implementation. They also supported in stabilizing the OGP National Secretariat by recruiting the Civil Society Adviser who is providing enormous support to the OGP National Coordinator.

Partners like the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), MacArthur Foundation, Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) now Open Society Initiative, the Ford Foundation, TrustAfrica and several other partners and donors were not left out.