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From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Governorship candidates of various political parties in Delta State are set to sign the Open Government Manifesto as part of efforts to sustain ongoing governance reforms in the Niger Delta region by a non-governmental organisation, Policy Alert.
The signing will take place in Asaba where the first in a series of OpenGov Town Halls will hold on Friday, January 20, 2023.
Addressing journalists, Executive Director of Policy Alert, Jijah Bolton Akpan said the signing would be witnessed by the United States (US) Consul General, Will Stevens, and a cross section of the electorates.
Akpan said the symbolic signing was to extract a commitment from the candidates to the implementation of an open government agenda, if elected.
He decried the opaqueness of government activities and policies within the Niger Delta region, which according to alienate citizen participation in the governance process.
Akpan explained that the town hall series which will subsequently hold in Bayelsa, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Imo and Rivers states, is being organised under the auspices of the Niger-Delta Open Observatory (NOGO) cluster supported by the USAID Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) project implemented by Palladium.
“The Delta State OpenGov Town Hall will give citizens a first hand opportunity to ask questions and demand explicit commitment from their governorship candidates on how the latter plan to implement and sustain the OGP in the state as the baton of government changes hands in 2023,” he hinted.
Flanked by the Project Director of NOGO, Koko Udo and Civil Society Adviser, Uchenna Ansukwu, Akpan stated that NOGO was currently being implemented in six states of the region.
According to him, the implementation is led by Policy Alert in partnership with OGP Secretariat and LITE Africa, among other cluster members.
