Kaduna State, North West Nigeria, has been globally acknowledged as a model in the implementation of Open Contracting, aimed at promoting transparency and accountability in governance.
Programme Director, Public and Private Development Centre, Ifeoma Onyebuchi disclosed this on Friday at a 3-Day Stakeholders Engagement on Open Contracting in Kaduna with Stakeholders drawn from among others, Kaduna SUBEB, Public Procurement Authority and UBEC.
She said Kaduna, the first State to join Open Government had been acknowledged at various international fora and was now being looked upon by other States in the country in that regard.
Onyebuchi explained that under the system,
government is not only obliged to meet its primary responsibility to the people, but ensure participatory in governance.
“Government is obliged to be accountable to the people on how their money is spent”, She said.
Assessing the policy brief on Public participation in the UBEC and Kaduna SUBEB procurement process, an official of the Centre, Akubuo Nonye, stressed the need for the two bodies to incorporate public participation in their existing procurement structure.
The involvement, she said, should beging as they are developing their plan as well as citizens from the community where the contract would be awarded .
Others, include school management committees, Parent Teacher Association, Community based Organisations, parents and students.
The consultation, Nonye said, is to inform them of what needs exist, if any and to hear from beneficiaries.
She said civil society could aid in creating a needs assessment by going into communities
and identifying the needs on ground.
She argued that while the UBE Act that creates UBEC and SUBEB focus its accountability on law violators, it fails to mention public participation as an accountability mechanism which is essential to achieving Open Contracting.
Nonye observed that within the UBEC and Kaduna SUBEB procurement process, there are entry points that could facilitate public participation.
The participation ,She explained, would serve as an extra layer of oversight to ensure that the Contracting process is truly transparent, competitive and void of all corruption..