Zonal Director, Ministry of Education, Oyigbo LGA of Rivers State, Dr Christiana Sibor says that citizens participation in governance will make all the difference in the anti -corruption war by the PresidentMuhammadu Buhari – led administration.
Speaking with The Tide, in Port Harcourt, Sibor said that the open government partnership should be seen as a multilateral initiative aimed at securing concrete commitments from national and sub- national governments to promote open government, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.
She said there is need to involve all stakeholders in the validation process, noting that one of the reasons for government to move forward is through retreat to provide a good opportunity for strengthening and broadening leadership.
According to her, “ such retreat when organized would ensure that there are more processes and relationship, focused endeavours that aimed at transforming governance system and behaviours, thereby opening them up to a wider range of participants contesting and refiguring power dynamics.
In her words, “ the retreat as planned and executed will ensure active involvement of citizens and civil society organizations during the implementation process. Therefore, the responsiveness of government depends to a large extent on the willingness and capacity of its citizen to believe in the policies.
She said it will afford participants the opportunity to look through the draft to be sure that views of shareholders were reflected in the action plans.
“ Government should look at the full document and ensure it tallies with the contents. It is critical to consider it, line by line to look at who is responsible for what. I encourage us to look at the contents of the documents and consider the activities in it to confirm that it is something that is achievable within the next few years and once such is done and confirmed, the document is validated”, the Director said.
Dr Sibor said that the stakeholders would review the first four years of Buhari’s administration, noting that all the stake holders will look at the key objectives of such retreat which will help to enhance security, fight corruption and improve the economy.
She also said that the four key areas of open government includes, transparency  (open data), accountability ( responsive government), citizen participation  and the use of technologies, will be upheld.
The education expert further said that Nigerian government and citizens need to do everything possible to ensure effective implementation implementation of government action plan for development, adding that Nigeria has growth, effective service delivery and social vision.
Sibor explained that one of the major driving forces for the development blockage is lack of openness, transparency and accountability in governance, adding “ The action plan for development in the second tenure of government at all levels should be validated for effective operations.

By: Bethel Toby & Miracle Frank