Policy Alert Holds OGP Town Hall Meeting In Asaba
By Norbert Fidelis
It was like a no holds bared as all stakeholder’s gathered at Vienna Hotel, Asaba, to discuss the way forward on Open Government Partnership (OGP). The town hall meeting which was organized by Policy Alert, a Non Governmental Organization and sponsored by United States Agency For International Development (USAID), drew stakeholders from various political parties, CSOs, market women, the Nigeria Police transporters and others to deliberate on how the incoming govt. hope to maintain, sustain as well as carry along the OGP initiative in the State
Speaking at the event, the Executive Director of Policy Alert, Mr.Tijah Bolton- Akpan welcomed everybody to the meeting and said that 5 more states will be visited for sensitization on OGP. He said the Niger Delta Region has been ravaged by unrest, marginalisation and under development despite the money generated and accrued to the region . As a result of this, the OGP has come to enable citizens have access to govt. and strengthen citizens engagement with govt. especially as it concerns the Niger Delta Areas. saying they come to Asaba to enlighten the stakeholders and people on how to demand for their right from the govt.
Also speaking at the event, the Consulate General Of The United States in Nigeria , Mr. Will Smith said he is happy to be in Asaba and urged the CSOs to muscle up their effort and ensure a fictional govt and democracy. He said a strong CSO will make any functional govt to live up to its expectation and listen to the people. He however advised the Civil Society Groups to let people know what there problems are in order to help them out and also help them function perfectly. Speaking further, Mr Smith said OGP is for transparency and CSOs should not remain docile and dance to the tune of the govt. Finally , he said all eyes will be on Nigeria this period as election approaches and advised the citizens to vote wisely.
In the same vain, the Chief Of Party For The Palladium Group Mrs. Lydia Odeh said Open Government Partnership will embed the principles of good governance and bring about transparency in govt Adding that it will also strengthen CSOs engagement with govt. She then urged the incoming govt to support OGP.
Other speakers at the event are Mr. Uchenna Aniukwu, the CSO adviser on OGP and Dr. Martin’s Kenedion, the Delta State CSO President. At the end of the programme , there was a roundtable discussion between the various politicall parties present on how they hope to carry out the OGP initiative if eventually voted into power after which they were made to sign an MoU
The Open Government Partnership is an international initiative that was formed in 2011.Nigeria however joined in 2016 and the objective of the OGP is to implement actions that promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption and harness new technologies to strengthen governance
