Communiqué of the 1st National Retreat on the Open Government Partnership, Kaduna, Nigeria

A cross section of stakeholders from government, civil society and business met at a consultative retreat to prepare the National Action Plan (NAP) for the implementation of Open Government Partnership (OGP) on governance reform in Nigeria from 24th to 26th October 2016 at Hotel Seventeen in Kaduna State. The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, who also delivered the keynote address, declared the Retreat open.

In attendance were Dr. Balkisu Saidu who represented Prof Yemi Osinbajo, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Architect Barnabas Yusuf Bala Bantex, the Deputy Governor of Kaduna State who represented Mallam El-Rufai, the Executive Governor of Kaduna State, Mr. Waziri Adio, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Dr. Joe Abbah, the Director General of the Bureau for Public Service Reform, Mr Ibrahim Magu, Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Mr. Oglafa Epipamo, Secretary, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Offences Commission. Relevant Directors involved in reform programs in their various Ministries represented the Ministers for Mines and Steel; Budget and National Planning; Power; Petroleum Resources, as well as Information and Culture. Other agencies that participated include the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the Nigeria National Petroleum Commission, (NNPC), and the National Orientation Agency (NOA).

Also in attendance was the Chief Executive Officer of the OGP International Secretariat, Dr. Sanjay Pradhan who was accompanied by the Deputy CEO, Mr. Joe Powell, a member of the Global OGP Steering Committee from Tanzania- Mr. Aidan Eyakuze, and the OGP Civil Society Coordinator for Africa and the Middle East, Ms Maureen Kariuki from Kenya. Also in attendance were many civil society leaders across the country and development partners such as the Department for International Development (DFID)/Justice 4 All (J4A), Partnerships to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL), Swiss Embassy and United States Agency for International Development.
Recall that President Buhari attended the anti-corruption summit in May in London where he made several commitments to scale up efforts in the fight against corruption through implementing programs aimed at:
a) Exposing Corruption
b) Punishing the corrupt and providing support to victims who have suffered from corruption.
c) Driving out the culture of corruption.

In July, 2016, flowing from these commitments, the President led the country to join sixty-nine (69) other countries as the seventieth (70th) to sign unto the Open Government Partnership (OGP) which is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving transparency, accountability, citizen’s participation and responsiveness to citizens through technology and innovation. OGP was formally launched in 2011 when the eight founding governments of Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States endorsed the Open Government Declaration.

In his opening remarks, the Deputy Governor commended the OGP process and explained that Kaduna state government is already operating an open budget process and direct monitoring of citizens’ feedback on all projects across the state.
The Chief Executive Officer of Open Government Partnership, Dr. Sanjay Pradhan praised the efforts of Nigeria in joining what he described as the global elite club of reformers. He enjoined participants to prepare a plan that is ambitious, smart but realizable as other African countries are looking up to Nigeria. The CEO expressed the willingness of the OGP secretariat to provide any support and guide that Nigeria may require in the NAP preparation process.

The discussions that followed were frank and interactive. In line with the multi-stakeholder nature of the OGP, both civil society and government representatives participated equally to co-create the National Action Plan. Commitments were drawn up along the following four thematic OGP core principles in line with the contextual priorities drawn from President Buhari’s commitments at the London Anti-Corruption Summit:
a) Improving Fiscal Transparency
b) Access to Information
c) Anti-Corruption and Asset Disclosure
d) Citizen Engagement and Empowerment

These thematic areas were further broken down into actionable activities to cover key elements of the plan, such as:
- Implementing an open contracting standard to ensure more effective citizens participation across the budget cycle and procurement process.
- Implementing open contracting and to ensure a more effective citizens participation across the budget cycle and procurement process.
- Enhancing disclosure of production and payment information in the extractive sector.
- Adopting common reporting standards and signing on to the Addis Tax initiative.
- Improving familiarity by citizens and civil/public servants with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by public servants and citizens.
- Increasing compliance with the FOIA by public institutions.
- Establishment of a public register of beneficial ownership information.
- Establishment of an internationally endorsed guideline for the transparent and accountable management of stolen assets.
- Development of common principles governing the payment of compensation to victims of corruption and ensure that the payments are made safely, fairly and in a transparent manner.
- Instutionalizing an improved dialogue mechanism between government and civil society across programs in the thematic areas of OGP.
- Reviewing related legislation on OGP related themes and making recommendations for amendment to the National Assembly.
- Adoption of a technology based citizen’s feedback to all public funded projects.
- Adopting technology and innovation to drive commitments along four thematic areas.
- Development of an overall monitoring and evaluation mechanism to ensure that timelines and milestones are achieved as proposed.
The draft NAP will also be hosted online for two weeks to receive further input of citizens and other stakeholders, before submitting it to the President through the National Steering Committee for approval.
Following the President’s approval, the NAP will be submitted to the OGP secretariat for review and approval. President Buhari has been invited to the 4th Global OGP summit to be held in Paris, France, between the 7th and 9th of December 2016. It is expected that the announcement of the approval of the Nigerian National Action Plan will be made at that event.
Kaduna 26th October 2016

List of OGP National Steering Committee Members
Government Ministries
1. Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation
2. Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF)
3. Federal Ministry of Justice – Coordinating Ministry / Chair of the National Steering Committee
4. Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning
5. Federal Ministry of Finance
6. Federal Ministry of Information
7. Federal Ministry of Communication
8. Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources
9. Federal Ministry of Education
10. Federal Ministry of Health
Agencies / Department
1. Central Bank of Nigeria
2. Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI)
3. Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
4. Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP)
5. Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR)
6. Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB)
7. Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS)
8. Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Crimes Commission (ICPC)
9. Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)
10. Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF)
Other Arms of Government
1. National Assembly
2. National Judicial Council
Civil Society Organisations
1. Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC)
2. Budget Transparency (BudgIT)
3. Media Rights Agenda (MRA) - Co-Chair
4. African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ)
5. Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)
6. Publish What You Pay (PWYP)
7. Centre for Law Enforcement Education, Nigeria (CLEEN)
8. Global Network For Cyber-solutions
9. Digital Forensics
10. African Centre for Leadership Strategy and Development (Center-LSD)
11. Socio-Economic Rights Accountability Project (SERAP)
12. Freedom of Information Coalition (FOIC)
Professional Organisation
1. Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG)
2. National Union of Journalist (NUJ)
3. Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)
4. Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN)
5. Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN)
6. Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN)
7. Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA)
Observers
1. Federal Ministry of Works and Power
2. Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs
3. Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)
4. Nigeria Governors’ Forum
5. Nigeria Inter Religious Council (NIREC)
6. Federal Ministry of Transportation
7. Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel
8. National Orientation Agency (NOA)
9. National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)

Kaduna 26th October 2016
AS ISSUED BY COMRADE SALIHU OTHMAN ISAH, SPECIAL ADVISER, MEDIA AND PUBLICITY TO THE HONOURABLE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION AND MINISTER OF JUSTICE.

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