Awka
The Anambra State Government has been found to be two years behind in the implementation of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) action plan.
Despite the state’s visible zeal and commitment to the OGP initiative, her Action Plan (SAP), which was launched to run from 2019 to 2021, was found not to have been implemented half.
The discovery was made at the ongoing 2-day Mentorship of OGP Administrators in Anambra State by the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD) in furtherance of its project “Promoting Transparency and Accountability in the governance process through the implementation of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in Nigeria”.
The event which was flagged off by the state co-chair of OGP and Commissioner of Budget and Economic Planning, Mrs Chiamaka Nnake, according to Centre LSD Executive Director, Mr Monday Osasa, was with the support of the MacArthur Foundation.
The two-mentorship program, according to a statement by the Programme Coordinator of Centre LSD, Mr. Lawal Amodu, was expected to offer opportunities to hear state specific progress reports, concerns and provide guide where necessary to advance implementation of the Partnership principles in the state.
Anambra State, he noted, was one of the twenty-five states that had signed up to the OGP and determined to revamp the discourse on the OGP and move forward with its commitment to enthroning transparency and accountability and citizens participation in the governance processes.
The delay in the pace of the State’s Action Plan which was traced by state co-chair of OGP, Prince Chris Azor, to multiple factors including the debilitating global outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, has now necessitated rolling over the remaining topic areas to the next action plan.
Mr Uche Arisukwu, who is the National Adviser to the state’s SAP implementation committee, pointed out that packaging a report on the progress so far would enable the committee roll over the remaining areas to the current season.
In her remarks, the State Commissioner of Budget and Economic Planning, Mrs Nnake expressed the commitment of the state government in deepening the SAP with a view to improving transparency, accountability, citizen participation, and responsiveness to citizens through technology and innovation.
Anambra was among the first few states to sign into OGP in 2017, shortly after it was adopted by Nigeria in 2016.
The state launched it with five thematic areas including Fiscal transparency, Ant-Corruption, Access to Information, Citizen Engagement and Climate Change and Natural Resource Transparency.
