Abubakar Malami
FG Declares
Abubakar Malami
FG Declares 2nd National Action Plan to Strengthen
anti- Corruption Reform
The Honorable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of
Justice/Coordinating Minister, OGP Nigeria, Malami Abubakar, SAN
has declared opened, the validation retreat of Open Government
Partnership (OGP) draft on 2nd National Action Plan.
The retreat that took place at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja was to
validate the draft of the 2nd National Action Plan ahead of its
submission by the end of September 2019 to the OGP International
Secretariat to ensure that Nigeria maintains an uninterrupted
membership of the global body.
He said that OGP, was initiated by the administration of
President Mohammadu Buhari to demonstrate his commitment to further
strengthen anti- corruption reform. The 1st NAP was approved by the
President and unveiled at the OGP Global Summit held in Paris in
December, 2016 which after was delivered to the OGP International
Secretariat.
“Nigeria joined the Open Government Partnership in July 2016 as
a tool to foster transparency and accountability through targeted
measures, this is to promote fiscal transparency, improve public
procurement and open contracting, access to information, asset
disclosure, citizen engagement and empowerment thereby
consolidating on-going reform efforts within and outside the public
service”.
Malami added that, for proper coordination of OGP, President
Buhari named the Federal Ministry of Justice as the coordinating
Ministry for the implementation. “Ministry has played that role
effectively in the past two years and would continue to do so
unless otherwise directed by the President”, he emphasized.
In his response to the Journalists on the achievements of the
1st NAP, the Attorney General said, the 1st National Action Plan
had 14 commitments that were hinged on Fiscal Transparency, Access
to Information, Anti-Corruption and Citizens Engagement amongst
others.
He said, the Budget Office of the Federation through
consultative process with relevant government agencies and citizens
published the Pre-Budget Statement (2018-2020 MTEF/FSP) and has
consistently published a Citizen’s Guide to the Budget since 2018.
It has also developed the iMonitor platform for citizens’ feedback
to government with respect to implementation of projects within
communities’’.
Speaking on Anti-corruption, Malami said, “the commitment under
anti-corruption thematic, the Federal Government has approved the
harmonised National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS). The Asset
Recovery and Management Unit (ARMU) in the Federal Ministry of
Justice serve as the Secretariat for the implementation of the
National Anti-Corruption Strategy. The ARMU also serves as the
central coordinating unit for asset recovery and has been mandated
with ensuring proper record keeping of assets recovered by the
FMOJ”.
He revealed that the Freedom of Information (FOI) Unit of the
Federal Ministry of Justice has trained and continues to train
public officials in various MDAs on the provisions of the FOI Act.
He added that the Unit has through several measures, encouraged
MDAs to comply with the proactive disclosure obligations under the
FOI Act. Currently FOI Desk Officers have been designated in 135
Ministries, Departments and Agencies
On citizens engagement in government, Malami said, “the Bureau
of Public Procurement (BPP) had developed the Nigerian Open
Contracting Portal (NOCOPO). This made the BPP to win the
Government Innovation Award in a competition organized by the
Washington, DC-based Open
Contracting Partnership and the London-based Open Data
Institute. He said currently eight Pilot MDAs namely the Federal
Ministry of Education, Health, Transport, Agriculture, Works and
Petroleum Resources are spearheading the use of the Portal. The
Bureau has trained these Agencies on how to upload data on the
portal”.
The HAGF highlighted that the journey for the development of the
draft 2nd NAP began when the NSC at its 4th meeting constituted a
2nd NAP committee under the leadership of the incoming Co-chair for
non -State Actors to oversee the development of the 2nd NAP and to
undertake the preliminary consultations required to deliver a 2nd
draft NAP.
He disclosed that the National Steering Committee (NSC), and the
NAP Drafting Committee as well as the OGP Secretariat worked
assiduously over the past ten months through multi stakeholders’
consultative process involving Government and Civil Society
Organisations to co-create the draft 2nd NAP.
He explained that the 1st NAP that has four thematic areas and
fourteen commitments while the draft 2nd National Action Plan has
seven (7) thematic areas with sixteen (16) commitments taking into
consideration the need to roll over outstanding commitments from
the 1st NAP, that have been identified through consultative
processes and current OGP globally priorities as very critical in
deepening OGP principles.
He urged the participants to ensure that at the end of the
retreat, Nigeria would achieve a validated 2nd NAP to enable it
present to the President for signature before submission to the OGP
Global Secretariat at the end of September, 2019.
Malami expressed appreciation to MDAS and CSOs who have
developed and deployed technology-based platforms to engage with
citizens and government on governance and service delivery.
In his remarks, the Senior Fellow, Nigeria Economic Summit
Group, (NESG) Dr Tayo Aduloju represented by Mr Seun Ojo said, that
the 2nd OGP National Action Plan came at a time when the national
fiscal gap between development resources requirements and the
revenue mobilisation capacity indicate a fiscal deficit that needed
to be closed. He prayed for strength and fortitude to translate NAP
into tangible, measurable results and outcome that the Citizens can
feel and experience.
In his opening address, the Executive Director, Media Rights
Agenda (MRA) and Co-Chair, National Steering Committee of OGP
Nigeria, Mr. Edetaen Ojo hoped that the 2nd NAP would deliver many
benefits of OGP to the country and the people. “It is only in this
way that all the efforts, time and resources that have been put
into this initiative over the last three years will be meaningful”,
he added.
Also present at the retreat were Minister of Finance,
represented by Dr. Anne Nzegwu, Mr Edet Ojo Executive Director,
Media Right Agenda Non- State Actor and Co-Chair OGP, Nigeria,
representatives of MDAS, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) amongst
others..
Omoyajowo Mercy
For: Deputy Director
FMoJ