On June 20, 2016, Nigeria sent its letter of intent to join the Open Government Partnership (OGP), becoming the 70th country to join that international club of reformers. The OGP is a global initiative through which member governments and their citizens hold themselves and each other to account for a set of voluntary but ambitious commitments (known as national action plans) towards more transparent, accountable, participatory and innovative governance processes. Nigeria deserves commendation for finally becoming eligible and thereafter signing up to the OGP, after scoring 75 percent of the applicable scores in four critical areas of open government: fiscal transparency, access to information, asset disclosure and citizen engagement.
There is optimism that the OGP will push Nigeria in the direction of improved governance and better development outcomes for citizens. In its letter of intent signed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Nigerian government wrote: “By joining the OGP, the government of Nigeria commits to transparency and accountability in the management of public office. We believe that the OGP membership will enhance innovation, economic development and accelerate the transformation of the public service.” At a political level, joining the OGP sends a loud signal to the global community on the seriousness of the Buhari administration’s anti-corruption war.
Nigeria is not a newcomer to governance reforms. Over the last decade, the country has made good progress in emplacing necessary laws relating to freedom of information, public procurement, asset declaration, fiscal responsibility and the like. There have also been efforts at reforming the public service. The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), started in 2004, has made substantial progress in letting sunshine in on transactions in the country’s oil, gas and mining sectors which had for so long remained bastions of opacity and corruption. Regrettably, all these efforts have yet to translate to accountability and improved delivery of services to citizens.
The OGP seeks to change this narrative but not necessarily through the introduction of a new set of standards for good governance. Rather, it enables governments place their everyday reform intentions in an actionable, measurable framework which is subjected to periodic reviews jointly done by citizens, participating governments and their peers in the OGP. That way, countries are stretched beyond mere notional or paper commitments and the perfunctory or baseline implementation of reforms that have become common fare in Nigeria. Improvements can also be progressively tracked and scaled along a trajectory that is clear for all to see.
Having signed on, the next step is for the government to set up a framework for facilitating ongoing consultations with civil society and providing broad space for inputs by citizens. This mechanism should be institutionalized rather than left to the whims of government officials. The Nigerian government will need to set higher standards for partnering with civil society than it is currently known for, especially in view of a disturbing recent tendency to undermine civil society autonomy and constrain civic space. This trend got to a head last month with Nigeria voting against a UN resolution seeking to protect civic space in member countries. It is noteworthy that the relationship between government and its civil society organizations at the national level is the cornerstone of OGP. Nigeria’s success on the OGP may therefore depend on how seriously and delicately that relationship is managed. This is very critical as the consultation process towards developing a National Action Plan begins, which by the OGP rules must be co-created by government and civil society as equal partners. The quality, depth and breadth of civil society participation at the outset will be a litmus test that indicates the shape of things to come.
Truth be told, governance in Nigeria has been in a big mess for too long. Joining the OGP will only make meaning if stakeholders work together with the sense of urgency that our grand challenges deserve. Our best foot forward would be to take off with a really ambitious first national action plan that aims beyond just going through the motions of reform.
Nigeria has joined the OGP at an opportune time. September of this year will make it one year since Nigeria and other countries of the world embarked on a race to achieve the world’s most ambitious development outcomes ever, known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). If we start right with the OGP, we would be going a long way towards reaching Goal 16 of the SDGs, which specifically commits countries to reduce corruption; develop effective, transparent and accountable institutions; ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory, and representative decision making; and ensure public access to information and the protection of fundamental freedoms. It can also be our country’s resolve not to allow corruption to blight our chances for achieving the SDGs the way it happened with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The OGP can be our tool for matching that resolve with action.
Tijah Bolton-Akpan
