The Chairman of Kano State Anti-Corruption and Public Complaints Commission and focal point for Open Government Partnership (OGP) in the state, Mr. Muhuyi Mogaji Rimigando, has re-affirmed that the reforms that will be embarked on will be fully owned by the people.

He stated this in a goodwill message presented on Tuesday, in Kano, at a one-day capacity building programme for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) aimed at deepening their understanding of the principles of the OGP.

The event had in attendance representative of the organisations from across the state.

Muhuyi, however, expressed happiness with development partners for supporting the event.

According to him, “This session aimed at deepening the understanding of civil society about OGP is crucial to our overall success. Knowledge based engagement will mean that the voice of civil society is not only amplified but also bold and responsive to the needs of the communities and other relevant stakeholders.”

He added that the beauty of OGP is the unique relationship between government and civil society which it promotes.

Speaking further, Muhuyi noted that “the whole idea of partnership-creation and co-responsibility will be sterile and ineffective unless we build the required capacity, adding that both government and civil society need to have clarity, understand and internalise all the principles of OGP to make sure that we are all on the same page from time to time.

“In Kano State, we want an OGP that the people can own because we want to improve governance and service delivery in a participatory manner.”

Commending the Kano State government, Dr. Otive Igbuzor, Federal Facilitator of PERL (DFID), commended the state, saying: “Kano State is one of the leading states when it comes to reforms especially in the area of anti-corruption.

“The expectation is that Kano State will be a model for other states to follow in terms of implementing commitments that are transformational.”

National Co-Chair of OGP and Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda, Mr. Edeetan Ojo, who also commended the Kano State government and the CSOs further affirmed that: “Kano State has made a bold step in joining the OGP in order to improve governance in the state.”

On their part, representatives of civil society groups expressed delight with the opportunity to learn about the Open Government Partnership Initiative and participate in it.

The groups, however, resolved to expand their engagement with OGP to include other stakeholder groups like the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Kano State Chamber of Commerce (KSCC), Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and others.

Six critical sectors of priority were identified which include education, infrastructure, water, agriculture, environment and health.

Other partners present were representatives of OGP National Secretariat, Dr. Blair King of the United States Agency for International Development, Oliver Blake of the United Kingdom Department of International Development, Mr. Rommy Mom of the Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) also of the UK government.

Update news