By Ruth Oketunde

The Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) in collaboration with some civil society organisations organised a two-day workshop to promote open government partnership and accountability in governance.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop is tagged “AMAC Open Government Partnership Sensitisation and Action II Development Workshop”.

Mrs Abiodun Essiet, Consultant, Development Partners, AMAC, said the workshop was aimed at encouraging accountability and transparency in procurement processes in the council.

“AMAC is the only local government area in Nigeria to join the OGP global, based on their committment to promoting accountability and transparency of government processes.

“The council signed up to OGP in 2020 and since then we developed the first action plan and completed it last year and we are about to develop the second action plan.

“This action plan is centered around open procurement and to continue citizens participation in budgetary process,” she said.

Similarly, Mr Semiye Michael, Executive Director, DEAN Initiative, said the event is aimed at mainstreaming the committment and participation of the citizens into a people-centered budget at the local government level.

He added that it was important for projects and contracts to be free of corruption, open to gender and PWDS inclusion and open to all contracting processes.

“We noticed that the concentration of governance has been on the national government over the years but there are constitutional responsibilities of the local governments.

“There are roles which the local governments should play in development, such as provision of primary health care, primary schools, water and sanitation activities at community level.

“This is what we are using the open government partnership to achieve at the governance level of the local government,” he said.

Also, Mr Attahiru Ibrahim,
Director of Administration, AMAC, added that the council was committed to promoting open government partnership with the people at the grassroot.

“The council was committed to achieving the OGP plan as we are committed to ensuring a open procurement process for everyone to participate.

“We also want more women to key into these procurement processes, as we will ensure that we implement all projects the citizens want and not deciding for them,” he said