Fintiri partners OGP on development, security

Adamawa State Government has expressed commitment to work with the Open Government Partnership (OGP) to strengthen the Permanent Dialogue Mechanism (PDM) through which sustainable synergy between state governments and the civil society can be forged to restore peace in North East.

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.

Speaking yesterday at a seminar organised by OGP under the World Bank-Assisted States Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) Programme for Results, in Yola, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri said his administration would continue to partner with any agency willing to restore peace in the region.

Three participants each from civil society organisations drawn from each of the six states in the North East attended the workshop.

Fintiri, who was represented by the Commissioner for Finance Budget and Planning, Dr. Ishaya Dabari, said: “For many years, dialogues have been applied to community planning, development and project implementation.”

He pointed out that dialogue was important in increasing the effectiveness of the civil society in public discussions on issues that directly affect the citizens’ welfare, development of the state and the country at large.

“Therefore, I strongly believe that PDM would go a long way in creating and fostering a continued synergy between government and CSOs to maximise efforts to reform fiscal transparency in the states as envisioned by the Federal Government under the SFTAS Programme for Results.

“I want to assure the civil society in the state that the government will continue to engage you as agents of change and public enlightenment in the delivery of democracy dividends to the good people of the state. Therefore, we welcome constructive criticism from the civil society in an objective, fair and rational manner for the betterment of the society at large,” the governor added.

The OGP Programme Manager, Andrew Onyeanakwe, noted that the PDM workshop was to familiarise the civil society with the SFTAS/OGP Programme for Results, especially the online publication of approved citizens’ budget.