By Nana Musa
The Minister of Youth Development,
Ayodele Olawande has said that the country is set to develop a four year National Action Plan-four (NAP IV) for Nigeria Open Government Partnership (OGP) initiative.
Olawande, who is also the State Actors Co-chair of OGP, said this at the NAP III valedictory National Steering Committee (NSC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.
OGP is a global partnership that brings together government reformers and civil society leaders.
The aim is to create action plans that make government to be more inclusive, responsive and accountable.
He said that the tenure of this NSC has been extended till December, when NAP IV would become operational.
”As you may be aware, the global support unit of the OGP has disclosed that countries can decide to develop a two-year or a four-year action plan.
”Nigeria will develop a four year action plan. There will be a mid-term review and reset of the action plan after the first two years of implementation.
”I encourage you to carefully examine the NAP IV roadmap presented to you and provide valuable feedback to enhance the process.
”Please draw extensively from your experiences with the implementation of NAP III as you contribute to the draft. Our goal is to create a new NAP that avoids the challenges faced during the implementation of NAP III,” the Minister said.
Olawande said that the support unit recommended that countries co-create their next action plan during the last month of implementation of the current action plan.
He said that Nigeria has already fallen short of this as the next NAP co-creation would begin after the last NAP expiration date.
”For me, our greatest success will be the successful institutionalisation of OGP principles in the country.
“We have done so much to this effect, let me plead with us all to make concerted efforts to sustain this feat.
”Today in Nigeria, 27 out of the 36 states have keyed into the OGP and this also includes three local councils.
”Nigeria has made significant progress in advancing our beneficial ownership reforms in the last few years. I describe this progress as significant considering the enormous challenges we have had to overcome to get to this point,” he said.
Olawande said that at the end of NAP III, implementation achieved a number of feats that would have been impossible if it was not for the support and dedication of the Secretariat to the OGP process in the country.
The minister commended the OGP secretariat for all their efforts in ensuring the implementation of NAP III in spite of all difficulties and obstacles encountered during the implementation cycle.
Eariler, the Non State Actors Co-chair, Mrs Obialunanma Nnaobi-Ayodele, said: ”It has been two years of implementing NAP III and there had been rewards.
”We started off on a bumpy note but it is safe to say that we have not done too badly.
”We could have done better but we will give ourselves a pass mark,” she said
The National Coordinator of OGP, Dr Gloria Ahmed, said that the NAP III implementation was the most challenging in the history of NAP implementation in the country.
“This is because of factors such as political transition, OGP political leadership change and non-budgetary funding for OGP among others.
“Nevertheless, we weathered the storm to facilitate the delivery of results by exploring other ingeniously created options in line with OGP principles of innovation and leveraging our co-creative strength and opportunities,” she said.
NAP III started in January 2023 and ended in January 2025.
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