2nd July, 2019
Mr Chima Aja, the Executive Director of Development Initiative Goals Foundation (DIG-F) says that the Open Government Partnership (OGP) initiative of the Ebonyi Government will promote democracy, rule of law and good governance.
Aja, who stated this on Tuesday in Abakaliki, said OGP initiative would enhance citizens participation in democratic governance.
OGP is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from national and subnational governments to promote open government, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.
He said that Ebonyi government launched the OGP shortly after Gov. Dave Umahi was elected for a second term in office.
Aja, co-chairman of the committee set up to work out operational modalities of the initiative, said the initiative would also strengthen democracy, rule of law and good governance in the state.
He said that OGP would give citizens more access to public documents and opportunity to hold leaders accountable through constructive engagements and criticism.
He regretted that the failure of most government programmes and policies and their ineffective implementations were due largely to lack of public awareness and information about such programmes and policies.
He said that the signing of the Freedom Of Information Bill into law was to enable the citizens to take part in governance by accessing relevant government information.
He said: “Open Government is the governing doctrine which holds that citizens have the right to access the documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public oversight.
“In its broadest construction, it opposes reason of state and other considerations, which have tended to legitimize extensive state secrecy.
“An open government is one with high level of transparency and mechanisms for public scrutiny and oversight in place, with an emphasis on government accountability.
“Transparency is considered very important in an open government, meaning that the public should have access to government-held information and be informed of government proceedings.
“Government succeeds more when the people are allowed to actively participate in determining how they are governed and how policies and programmes enunciated by the government are implemented for the overall wellbeing of the masses.”
Aja emphasised that democratic governance and rule of law in any society thrived effectively when there is increased citizens participation and collaboration in government proceedings.
He commended the governor for the initiative and appealed to political and non-political actors in the state to allow the initiative to succeed.