In few days from now, Nigerians will vote in new leaders in different levels of government. Do we ever hope to see a different attitude at governance? THE NEW DIPLOMAT‘s Akanimo Kufre spoke with Tijah Bolton Akpan, Executive Director of an NGO, Policy Alert.
Mr Akpan considers the participation of the people in governance as essential as getting their voter’s card. He made quite a case for voter’s education as partners in Open Government Partnership. Policy Alert was also involved in advocating Nigeria’s signing up as OGP 70th member. Over the years, Policy Alert has been working with partners like MacArthur Foundation, African Center for Leadership, Strategy and Development. Open Alliance Nigeria and Niger Delta Open Government Observatory.
What is Policy Alert and your objectives for the rally?
Policy Alert is an NGO based in Uyo, I’m also the coordinator, Open Alliance in Akwa Ibom State.
Open Alliance is a coalition of NGOs that are pushing for transparency and accountability in government processes. We used the same platform to push for Nigeria to sign the OGP, Open Government Partnership, which the country finally did in 2016. Now we are trying to push for State governments to sign up as well.
Now the rally we had yesterday is another significant milestone in the journey to get States to open up their governance processes. Today we had people come out from different states of the South South region. We have citizens of Akwa Ibom State who turned out in their numbers to give support to the message. If you look at the banner here it states “Akwa Ibom State Government should open up.” To open up is the significant message today.
What inspired your objectives and when was this initiated?
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral initiative that started in 2011. So far we have had 80 countries or more sign up to it.
The four main pillars of OGP are Transparency, Accountability, Citizens Participation and Use of Innovation & Technology to open up governance processes.
Look at Akwa Ibom State for instant if government were more transparent, citizens would trust government more. Citizens would have a believe that government is there to do business on their behalf and that they are holding that mandate on their behalf. That trust is really lacking at most level of government and we are not singling out Akwa Ibom State. It is something that you see everywhere you turn, at the National, States and Local level of governance. So governance is getting more and more disconnected from the citizens who are supposed to be key beneficiary of governance.
How is your organization attempting to resolve the trust issues between government and the governed?
Now the OGP seek to change that paradigm, to put citizens at the center of the discus of governance.
You say democracy is the government of the people for the people and by the people. Let governance finally be by the people, let the voices of the people inform the processes of governance.
Take the budget for instance, yesterday we heard the governor of Cross River State sign a budget of N1.3 trillion and gives it a funny title, if citizens are allowed to inform the budget processes we wouldn’t see the funny behavior in public spaces.
So what we are asking for is that governance should be more informed by citizens led debate. Budget processes should be more transparent, more accountable and citizens should be brought into places where decisions are made on their behalf. That is what the OGP is all about.
So today we went out there with a singular message to ask that the government of Akwa Ibom and other South South States should sign unto the OGP. When they do this, they are going to commit themselves into key commitment. Those commitments will now be used by citizens to monitor them.
For instant they could say we want to sign unto public procurement law and implement this so that contract processes can be more transparent. So that a governor or commissioner does not wake up and award a contract. Such should be things of the past. So this is what the rally has been encouraging.
We have few days to the general elections. Why are you having the rally now and how much will it benefit the citizenry?
You see the election provide a platform to reconfigure the debate. You know election should be about voters and those who seek votes engaging each other. The issue of open government is to provide a new agenda to help define interaction between politicians and the electorates. So this rally couldn’t have come a better time than now. It can now set the agenda for discussion about the election, party ideology and candidate.
Citizens can now begin to ask the right questions like “when you were there what did you do about transparency and accountability. How did you spend this particular money that came in at a particular time. What did you do with it and why should I give you my vote again when you did not spend public funds in transparency?.” So the whole question of accountability should inform voters decision to decide.
How can your advocacy help INEC to make votes really count?
This is a distinct agenda even though there is a tangential connection to electoral process. We are not doing electoral umpiring talk per say. What we are doing now is OGP. Pushing government to sign up, informing citizens to choose transparent governance.
What is there for the commonest citizen to benefit when the government finally sign up for OGP?
Government will be more focused on the citizens, they will be more transparent and citizens should benefit. Social services would be delivered efficiently and effectively. Where there is too much secrecy in government, corruption thrives. And because corruption thrives there is insufficient funds to go round for hospitals, schools, and road projects. That is why our children are sitting on the floor instead of desk.
When government is transparent and accountable, public resources would be use in a more responsible manner and citizens would be the better for it. So the connection is very clear.
