By Noah Ocheni, Lokoja
The Executive Director of Renaissance Care and Empowerment Foundation (RECEF), Idris Ozovehe Muraina has called on the Kogi State government to initiate processes to sign up to Open Government Partnership, (OGP), to cement her achievement thus far in fiscal transparency and accountability.
In a statement by Idris Ozovehe Muraina in Lokoja, the State government needs to prove to her citizens that her governance system is all inclusive aimed at promoting citizen participation in decision making, and ensure a corrupt free society..
He added that Kogi State government over the last few years had made significant gains towards achieving transparency in governance, saying a case in point is the openness in the state budgeting processes and publicity.
According to Muraina, the state had got accolades from international organization and rated high in fiscal transparency and accountability, saying that it’s time for the state to cement her achievement in open government initiative and place herself among communities of Open Government Partnership (OGP).
“The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from national and sub-national governments to promote open government, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.” He said.
“In the spirit of multi-stakeholder collaboration, OGP is overseen by a steering committee including representatives of governments and civil society organizations.”
He further stressed “Open government reforms have in recent years emerged as an area of intense activity and fervent hope for some of our largest societal aspirations: to improve public services, to expand public knowledge of governmental processes, to save public money, and to make government more participatory and inclusive.”
A non governmental Organization, Renaissance Care and Empowerment Foundation, said
“OGP provides a platform for reformers inside and outside of governments around the world to develop initiatives that promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.
