THE Federal Government has tasked the 36 states of the federation and Federal Capital Territory (FCT), to improve accountability and transparency by ensuring openness in governance.
Secretary to the Goverment of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, gave the charge during the second quarter meeting of the forum Secretaries to State Governments, held in Asaba, Delta State.
He noted that the forum which holds quarterly, strives at building the required synergy between the federal and states bureaucracies in order to improve relationship between the tiers of government. The forum also provides an atmosphere for critical discussions on policy articulation, experience sharing, peer review and adaptations.
He said: “Increased global demand by civil society groups, non-governmental organisations and citizens to have greater say in public decision-making as well as the desire by many governments to improve inclusiveness and responsiveness led to calls for more openness in governance.
“Pursuant to these, the Federal Government has been collaborating with an International Transparency and Accountability Organisation otherwise known as Open Government Partnership (OGP), in the following areas, among others to ensure that budget planning, approval, implementation, monitoring and reporting meet the needs of citizens and that citizens have open access to budget information in a format that is both human and machine readable.
“Improve accountability and transparency of government procurement process through the implementation of open contracting and public participation in the public contracting process and establish a Public Central Register of Beneficial Owners of Companies among others.”
Mustapha said the Federal Government would continue to give priority to high employment generating sectors, improve business environment and youth development, adding that social investment programmes would continue to be given the required attention.
He added that the active support and collaboration of sub-national governments is therefore critical as the Federal Government strives to resolve present economic challenges of Nigeria.
He also disclosed that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being steadily implemented while substantial progress had been attained in a number of the goals, saying, “as we work towards meeting the 2030 target, states are also encouraged to partner the Federal Government in this area.”
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