Kaduna, is the 18th state of Federal republic of Nigeria located in the north, its capital is Kaduna, usually the state is referred to as Kaduna State to distinguish it from the state capital, the state is in Northwest Nigeria. Its capital is Kaduna. it is ranked 4th by land area and 3rd by population in Nigeria. ”Kaduna state is now a model in Open Government Partnership (OGP) and open contracting for the 36 states, the first state to sign up for OGP and one of the global sub-national representatives in open contacting, acting as an example in delivering good governance to Nigerians,” the Public and Private Development Center (PPDC) said.
PPDC Programme Director, Ifeoma Onyebuchi, told stakeholders in an engagement meeting in Kaduna that more states need to embrace the Open Government Partnership and open contracting, as it promotes accountable and transparent governance and ensure improved service delivery to the citizens. Open contracting includes advocacy for disclosure, capacity building for CSOs and selected public officials, use of disclosed data, and facilitating learning across countries. It is based on principles of disclosure of public procurement information, citizens’ participation in all stages of the public contracting process and acting on feedback by duty bearers. Through this work, AFIC aims at improving government responsiveness to citizens’ demand for public procurement information; enhancing citizens’ demand for public procurement information; and enhancing the government’s responsiveness
towards citizens’ feedback on public procurement accountability issues.
The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from national and sub-national governments to promote open government, empower citizens, fight corruption and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. In the spirit of multi-stakeholder collaboration, OGP is overseen by a steering committee including representatives of governments and civil society organizations.
“We are here to ensure that government agencies involved in procurement are transparent in what they are doing, to know where the gaps are and where training and advocacy is needed,” Ifeoma said. PPDC Communications officer, Nnenna Eze, in her remarks said the meeting was aimed at improving action on the Kaduna Open Contracting Portal; strengthening Kaduna open contracting mechanism.
As a follow up to uphold integrity in its contracting processes, Kaduna state government deployed an Open Contracting Portal (Kaduna Open Contracting portal) with support from Public and Private Development Center to foster inclusion of citizens in public procurement processes, openness and improved service delivery of public goods which is in line with its OGP commitment.
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