From Mba Nnenna – Abakaliki
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its State2State Activity has harped on the importance of Ministries, Departments, and various Agencies in making meaningful contributions to promote good governance in Ebonyi State.
The State2State Team Lead, Dr. Sam Onyia stated this during a five-day workshop held at Nike Lake Hotel, Enugu.
The themed of the workshop tagged “Review and Update of Ebonyi State Open Government Partnership (OGP) 2022-2024 State Action Plan,” focused on enhancing open governance and transparency.
24/7 news scooped that OGP is centered on the principle of co-creation, a collaborative process where government and civil society work together to make governance more open and accountable.
Since Nigeria joined the OGP initiative in July 2016, 27 states, including Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kano, Niger, Anambra, Abia, Enugu, Jigawa, Cross River, Delta, Imo, Edo, Ekiti, Adamawa, Taraba, Kebbi, Zamfara, Plateau, Kogi, Sokoto, Ondo, Gombe, Nasarawa, Bauchi, Oyo, Osun, and Katsina, have adopted OGP. Globally, 75 countries have joined as National members.
However, the Civil Society Advisor
at the OGP National Secretariat and a State2State Consultant,
Mr.Uchenna Arisukwu emphasized that for a government to join OGP, it must demonstrate a commitment to four key areas: Fiscal Transparency, Access to Information, Public Official Assets Disclosure, and Citizen Engagement.
The benefits of OGP include improved governance and decision-making, enhanced civic engagement and participation, increased accountability and transparency, and better allocation of resources and services.
The workshop aimed to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the existing State Action Plan (SAP2, 2022-2024), identify key results, and track evolving trends in governance and reforms. Additionally, it sought to review the Ebonyi State OGP SAP2 and update it to the new Ebonyi State OGP SAP3 (2025-2027), aligning it with the policies of the new state government.
During the workshop, five thematic groups were identified for Ebonyi SAP3 based on participant expertise: Climate Change and Environment, Access to Information, Citizen and Local Government Engagement, Peacebuilding and Conflict Management, and Fiscal Transparency.
Each group will address specific issues in Ebonyi State. For example, the Climate Change and Environment group identified “open defecation” as a critical issue and will develop activities and commitments towards tackling it over the next two years.
