By Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku
Edo state government has made a commitment to approve the State Action Plan (SAP), of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in the state.
Prof Yinka Omorogbe, Edo state Attorney General, and Government Co-Chair of the Edo OPG Secretariat, made this announcement at a Post-Election Stakeholders’ Meeting organized by the Africa Network for Environment & Economic Justice (ANEEJ) in Benin City, Edo State.
“Edo state has been committed to the ideals of good governance. Recall that Governor Obaseki runs government in Edo State in an open and transparent manner, and has always acted within the principles of the OGP. Edo state has moved a great deal towards signing the state Freedom of Information into Law,” Prof Omorogbe said.
In an address of welcome at the meeting, ANEEJ Deputy Executive Director and OGP Co-chair Leo Atakpu said that sensitization workshops had been organized for both state and non-state actors since June 2019 to provide a forum for generating ideas on the key areas that would be covered in the drafting of a State Action Plan.
“Concrete commitments were agreed for implementation across the agreed thematic areas in the Edo SAP namely – Fiscal Transparency, Anti-Corruption, Service Delivery and inclusion, access to information and citizen engagement.
“In order to ensure a smooth operationalization of this voluntary initiative in Edo State, ANEEJ deemed it necessary that stakeholders of the OGP process needed to focus on their roles in its implementation at the sub-national level,” Mr Atakpu said.
In a brief statement on the journey so far with the Edo State OGP, and purpose of the meeting, ANEEJ-OGP Focal person, Innocent Edemhanria said that the meeting was part of the ANEEJ implementation of the Civil Society Advocacy to Support Anti-corruption and Rule of Law in Nigeria, CASARN, project.
“The Edo State government has signed on to the Open Government Partnership, OGP, and has committed to the design of an anti-corruption strategy under the anti-corruption thematic area.
“ANEEJ expects that at the end of the workshop CSOs will be able to design and own the monitoring framework and be able to use the framework to monitor and report on the implementation of the Edo State Integrity and Accountability Strategy,” Mr Edemhanria said
There were 50 participants at the event, including NGOs, faith-based organization and community-based organizations drawn from the three senatorial districts of Edo State.
A key takeaway of this crucial meeting was the opportunity granted attendees to participate in a one-day consultative Forum, to review Edo State Medium Term Expenditure Framework for 2021-23, aimed at a wide array of stakeholder-input in the preparation of the 2021 Edo state budget.
The event was organized by the Edo State OGP Secretariat, supported by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy with funds from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office of the UK government.
