By Tony Obiechina, Abuja 

Nigerians have been urged to monitor and evaluate government projects in their domain through ‘Eyemark’, a digital application that enables citizens to access capital projects.

Outgoing Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba stated this at the inauguration of the third National Steering Committee of the Open Government Partnership(OGP) in Abuja, on Thursday.

President Muhammadu Buhari had  launched, “Eyemark,” which is a digital application, that enables citizens to monitor and evaluate capital projects in real time.

It is also an application that provides unimpeded access to information on stakeholders such as the communities, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), contractors, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and citizens to continually interact with regard to government’s capital projects, in order to promote transparency and accountability in the conduct of government business.

Equally, Eyemark provides a regular update on the status of capital projects across the country through bottom-up interactive processes.

Speaking at the inauguration of the third National Steering Committee of the Open Government Partnership(OGP) in Abuja, Agba commended President Muhammadu Buhari for recognising OGP, as a means of ensuring transparency and accountability in the conduct of government business.

He also commended the President for recognising OGP as a means of ensuring transparency and accountability in the conduct of government business.

He revealed that Nigeria adopted the principles of OGP to make governance citizens’ participatory.

Agba pointed out that through out history, progress has always be driven by citizens who have the courage to raise their voices to be counted and who are willing to bring about the change that they want to see.

The minister stated that Nigeria has developed and implemented two National Action Plans (NAP 1 and 2) on the Open Government Partnership, adding that the stage is set for the implementation of NAP 3. 

It would be recalled that at the last OGP Global Summit in Seoul, South Korea, Nigeria won the OGP Impact Award for commitment and progress on Beneficial Ownership Transparency.

Agba affirmed that the National Steering Committee has worked tirelessly to ensure the institutionalisation of OGP in Nigeria especially by strengthening its Secretariat, which is domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning to carry out its coordination function.

Also speaking, Chief Operations Officer, Nigerian Economic Summit Group(NESG), Dr. Tayo Aduloju, explained that the OGP, is an international multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving transparency, accountability, citizens participation and responsiveness to citizens through technology and innovation. 

Aduloju, who is also Non-State Actors Co-Chair, said OGP brings together government and civil society champions of reform who believe governments can be more effective and credible when they are open to public scrutiny. 

Aduloju represented by Mrs. Obialunanma Nnaobi-Ayodele, Executive Director, Meluibe Foundation, said Nigeria in its efforts to deepen institutional and policy reforms and block the opportunities that allow the embezzlement of public resources, joined the OGP in July 2016 as the 70th country, following the President’s commitments at the London Summit on Anti-corruption that held in May 2016.

He however, suggested that to take OGP to new heights, the current OGP Secretariat staff still needs to be significantly upgraded in its technical knowledge of governance reform design and the specific reform principles and practices related to each OGP commitment.