FG backs Implementation of OGP to Reduce Poverty

The Minister of State Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba, has pledged his support to encourage members, government institutions, and non- state actors to implement their Open Government Partnership (OGP) commitments, while stressing that it has the potential to create jobs and reduce poverty.

Prince Agba made this pledge recently in Abuja during a courtesy visit of the OGP Global Delegation to Nigeria

Agba stated that the Government of Nigeria is aware of the need for high level political support for the successful operationalization of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in Nigeria which informed the choice of him acting as the State Actor’s Co – Chair of Nigeria’s Multi Stakeholders Forum on Open Government Partnership (OGP).

He  added that he will ensure that issues related to the operations of the OGP activities in Nigeria will be prioritized by the Executive and also uphold OGP values and principles.

The Minister assured the ministry’s commitment to working with OGP to achieve strategic objective, contribute fund, legal and ethical oversight when necessary.

According to the Minister,  ‘’ our determination is to provide for our nation an enviable economic growth path, like the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), a medium term plan with which Nigeria existed recession in the second quarter of 2017, which is constructed on solid policies, strategies and reform programmes that accommodates the participation of non- state actors and development partners both in design and implementation. We are moving towards the actualization of the national vision of being among the top economies in the world, which is evidenced in Nigeria’s OGP second National Plan (NAP2) that is expected to be signed by Mr. President this month. The National Monitoring and Evaluation department which is domiciled in our ministry is being reinforced to carry out its mandate of monitoring and evaluating both existing and new government policies, projects and programmes’’.

Mr. Sanjay Pradhan, OGP Global Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who spoke on behalf of the Delegation at the meeting, said that the choice of their visit to Nigeria is informed because they considered Nigeria as priority nation amongst the 79 other OGP countries, and also stated that OGP can be a game changer for Nigeria both domestically and internationally.

He listed the objectives of OGP to include; empowering citizens, promoting transparency, fight corruption and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.

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Vivian Amadi

For Director Press MBNP