Nigeria to submit 2nd OGP National Plan

The Federal Government has concluded plans to submit the Second National Action Plan (NAP) to the secretariat of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) by September 30. The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), made this known on Friday during the OGP Stakeholders Second National Action Plan Validation Retreat […]

The Federal Government has concluded plans to submit the Second National Action Plan (NAP) to the secretariat of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) by September 30.

The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), made this known on Friday during the OGP Stakeholders Second National Action Plan Validation Retreat in Abuja.

Malami said the timely submission will ensure that Nigeria maintains an uninterrupted membership of the global body, which President Muhammadu Buhari signed in 2016 to strengthen anti-corruption reforms.

Malami said the country’s OGP secretariat, under the Ministry of Justice, focuses on seven thematic areas and 16 commitments unlike the first NAP, which has four thematic areas and 14 commitment areas.

The new thematic areas are: Extractive Transparency, Inclusiveness and Service Delivery while the ones that have been retained are: Fiscal Transparency, Anti-Corruption, Access to Information and Citizen Engagement.

He said the OGP, reforms have been made in open budgeting, open contracting, beneficial ownership register, National Anti-corruption strategy, and Freedom of Information.

He commended MDAs and CSO which have deployed technology to make information more transparent and accessible.

He said a service wide circular would be sent to all MDAs to establish OGP units, adding that states would also be encouraged to adopt OGP principles.

“As you rightly know, states like Kaduna, Kano and others have already domesticated the OGP programme and other states are working together in terms of ensuring the domestication of the relevant processes associated with OGP,” he said.

Also speaking, a representative of the partner agencies such as OSIWA, DFID, EU, Greg Anyaegbudike, charged the stakeholders to ensure the mainstreaming of the OGP so that they do not rely on donor funding.