Kaduna state is now a model in Open Government Partnership (OGP) and open contracting for the 36 states and FCT to emulate in delivering good governance to Nigerians, the Public and Private Development Center (PPDC) has said.
PPDC Programme Director, Ifeoma Onyebuchi, told stakeholders engagement meeting in Kaduna that more states need to embrace the OGP and open contracting, as it promotes accountable and transparent governance and ensure improved service delivery to the citizens.
“Kaduna state has become a model for the 36 states. Kaduna is the first state to sign up for OGP and one of the global subnational representatives in open contacting. OGP is about how government can be more accountable and transparent to promote good governance and service delivery. Those in government are elected to serve appropriately.
“The key way that government can achieve good governance is by using taxpayers’ money rightly. Government needs to be accountable by being transparent to ensure that how much is accruing to it and how much it is spending is made open to all. Kaduna state has signed up to OGP and open contracting about open disclosure and making sure that contracting is participatory.
“That is why we are here to ensure that government agencies involved in procurement are transparent in what they are doing, to know where the gaps are and where training and advocacy is needed,” Ifeoma said.
PPDC Communications officer, Nnenna Eze, in her remarks said the stakeholders’ engagement was aimed at improving engagement on the Kaduna open contracting portal.
She said the stakeholders’ engagement was centered on strengthening Kaduna open contracting mechanism.
According to her, “As a follow up to uphold integrity in its contracting processes, Kaduna state government deployed an Open contracting portal (Kaduna Open Contracting portal) with support from Public and Private Development Center to foster inclusivity of citizens in public procurement processes, openness and improved service delivery of public goods which is in line with its OGP commitment.”
The stakeholder engagement, which rounded up a weeklong activities, had in attendance representatives from the Universal Basic Education Board (UBEC), the Kaduna State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB) and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).