Mr Tijah Akpan, Executive Director, Policy Alert.
Policy Alert, a non-governmental organization working to promote economic and ecological justice in the Niger Delta, has announced plans to hold the first in a series of OpenGov Town Halls on Friday 20th January, in Asaba, Delta State.
The event is organised under the auspices of the Niger-Delta Open Observatory (NOGO), a civil society cluster aimed at strengthening the uptake and implementation of Open Government Partnership (OGP) in states of the Niger Delta.
In a statement released on Monday 16th January, the organisation’s Communications Officer, Nneka Luke-Ndumwere, said: “The Delta State OpenGov Town Hall will give citizens a firsthand opportunity to ask questions and demand explicit commitments from their governorship candidates on how the latter plan to implement and sustain the OGP in the state as the baton of government changes hands in 2023.”
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High point of the event will be the signing of the Open Government Manifesto by candidates to publicly symbolise their commitment to an open government agenda and their readiness to sustain ongoing governance reforms if elected, the state added.
The organisation also announced that plans are in top gear to hold similar events in five states where the project is being implemented – Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Imo and Rivers – during the coming weeks.
NOGO is currently implemented in six states of the Niger Delta with support from USAID Nigeria/Palladium Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) project. The project is led by Policy Alert in partnership with Nigeria’s Open Government Partnership (OGP) Secretariat and LITE Africa, among other cluster members.
