From Mba Nnenna- Abakaliki
The Technical Working Groups of Open Government Partnership supported by USAID State2State has held it’s quarterly TWG meeting to review progress with the implementation of the OGP State Action Plan (SAP), as effective implementation in OGP will contribute to transparency and accountability in governance in Ebonyi State.
Speaking during the meeting, the Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist and the Focal Person for the Open Government Partnership Coordinating for the USAID State2State, Ejiro Okotie said the gathering was a quarterly progress and review meeting to see how the OGP is being implemented in Ebonyi state, the challenges being faced and to discuss strategies to enhance OGP SAP implementation. Also, chart a way for sustainability of the partnership between state actors and non state actors as State2State will soon be rounding off their programme in the state come August 2025 and there is need for early plans for consolidating reforms achievement supported so far.
In his contribution, the Director of Statistics in the State Ministry of Budget and Planning, Dr Moses Onwe said that the working ethics of OGP have been beneficial to the citizens as the general public knows more about the activities of the state government.
The Programme Manager of Initiative for Social Change in Africa Mrs Nwafor Lorrieth harped on the freedom of Information dissemination of the activities of Open Government Partnership in the State.
During the meeting, members were assigned to their respective thematic areas which include; Citizen engagement group, Peace and Conflicts Resolution, Access to information and Fiscal Transparency.
After the group work, presentations were made by different groups with recommendation stating that OGP projects should be included in the 2025 budget call circular, to aid budgetary provisions for OGP implementation in the 2025 Budget.
