Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has stated that the Open Government Partnership (OGP) is taking the lead in the fight against corruption in Nigeria, and expressed happiness over the engagement between Federal Government and the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).

He disclosed this during his keynote address at the on-going OGP Week, which started on Monday, in Abuja, adding that without the existing coalition-building, much progress would not have been achieved.

The Vice President added that regardless of whether the goal is improving infrastructure or fighting corruption, it is clear, and it has always been, that governments cannot do it alone, pointing out that the skills, experience, resources and technology that the private sector brings to the table are often invaluable and, in many instances, represent the difference between success and failure.

“We ought to equally acknowledge that there is a limit to what civil society can accomplish by itself, without building bridges with the public sector that is very often the target of its work. What our experience with OGP in Nigeria has proven is that it is possible to build a coalition of like-minded reformers drawn from government and non-state actors,” Osinbajo added.

Speaking further, he revealed that the Federal Government has saved more than N200bn after it eliminated ghost workers from the federal civil service, adding that the government had put in place the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit, which helps to keep a check on the federal payroll and pensions.

According to him, “The FG has also established the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit to clean up Federal payroll and pension systems across our ministries, departments and agencies and this has saved the FG over N200bn by eliminating ghost workers. FG has saved more than N200bn by eliminating ghost workers.”

Also speaking at the event, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice/Co-Chair of Open Government Partnership, Abubakar Malami, said there has been a clear demonstration of the highest level of political will and commitment to the ideals of open government and citizen participation in governance.

He, however, expressed hope that the idea of OGP in Nigeria would continually secure concrete commitments to promote transparency, fight corruption, empower citizens and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.

While speaking to journalists, Ibekakwu said: “Of course, we have remained responsive to many demands in the duty of our transparency and we still insist on value addition through feeling the pulse on the street to gauge the impact of our policies on Nigerian citizens.”

She, however, concluded that the idea behind the OGP concept will continue to improve citizens’ engagement while ensuring that the principles of co-creation and co-governance are preserved.

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