Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
A civil society activist, Barr. Rommy Mom has stressed the need for government, civil society organisations and the media to form a formidable force to ensure equitable and judicious utilisation of resources accruing to the state or the country.
Mom, a member representing Human Rights at the Police Service Commission stated this at a one day interactive session on the Open Government Partnership (OGP) held in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.
He defined OGP as a situation whereby government and civil society come together to run the governance of a state or a nation as equal partners in an open, transparent and accountable manner oftentimes powered by technology.
While positing that the essence of OGP is to ensure that poverty is reduced and the money is not going into private pockets, Mom enjoined the Benue state government to key into the partnership as a way of tapping from the enormous benefits attached to such venture.
“There are benefits attached to being part of OGP. How can we allow closed governance continue in Benue when other states are benefiting immensely from it. That is why we need to push for it.”
“For us to have a critical and effective civil society push, we must have the media. Lately, people are also adding the legislature to this basket. We look forward to when we will have the media, the legislators and civil society coming together to own this issue.
He disclosed that already, seven states of the federation including Kano, Niger, Jigawa, Yobe, Enugu, Anambra and one other as well as the federal government had keyed into the program adding that the benefits attached to the partnership cannot be overemphasised.