The African Center for Leadership, Strategy and Development in-Collaboration with Kebbi State Government has organised a three day Retreat on Preliminary Sensitization on the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and Action Plan Validation for Kebbi State.
Speaking while declaring open the retreat, the State Governor, Senator Atiku Bagudu, described Open Government Partnership (OGP) as one of the platform that would defend the government on what it has been doing interms of transparency and accountability in governance.
Senator Bagudu, said that, he has no doubt that, it has taken a milestone in inculcating collaboration between government and Civil Society Organizations in such a way that, there r is more involvement in government projects.
According to the Governor, one of the cardinal principle of democratic governance is openess and transparency.
“Even when we operate an open government, we need to appreciate for government to do better, for government to do differently, people should be encouraged to introduce bold and courageous initiatives that they can depend”.
The Governor explained that, over the decade and in particular in the last six years, a number of initiatives have been taking place, giving example with the federal allocation account and distribution monthly, saying details on the monthly distribution is now available in public domain.
The Programme Coordinator and Open Government Partnership Focal Person, African Center for Leadership, Strategy and Development Abuja, Mr. Uchenna Arisukan, said Open Government Partnership (OGP) support to Kebbi State Government would encourage transparency and accountability in governance.
He requested for an Executive Order by the State Government for OGP to key in as permanent picture on the state government policies.
The Co-Chairman, Open Government Partnership for Kebbi State, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi Ngaski, explained that,
OGP aims to improve collaboration between the Government and Citizens and to support this goal government need to listen to citizens and make it self accessible and accountable and by so doing government will be able to design a better services for citizens.
Abdullahi Tukur