Action plan – Abuja, Nigeria, 2023 – 2026

At-a-Glance

Duration

Jun 2026

Date Submitted

25th May 2023

Foreword(s)

Corruption is one of the most severe issues confronting Nigerian public procurementTransparency in the procurement process can help combat corruption and waste that plagues a significant portion of public procurement budgets globally. Technical specifications: Commitments that aim t... More. The procurement process’s lack of transparency and accountability has resulted in cases of embezzlement, fraud, and misappropriation of funds, undermining the procurement system’s credibility. These have compounded effects on project delivery to specifications, cost, and timelines as well as standards and sustainability.
An online survey was conducted on the area of focus for the development of a second action plan and the results indicated that the highest percentage of the population voted for open contractingA transparent procurement process, known as open contracting, increases competition, improves public service delivery, and ensures governments better value for their money. Technical specifications: C... More and public procurement. This implies that the citizens of AMAC are not happy with the process of contracting and procurement at the local government level. The government of AMAC are committed to open governance goals and will ensure the implementation of Fiscal openness in open contracting and public procurement, thereby promoting transparency, accountability, citizen’s involvement and needs collection, and inclusionOGP participating governments are working to create governments that truly serve all people. Commitments in this area may address persons with disabilities, women and girls, lesbian, gay, bisexual, tr... More. This Plan was developed through a collaborative approach that involved Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), citizens, local government officials, and other non-state development actors. The approach has resulted in a more cohesive synergy whose importance will be crucial at the implementation stage of the Plan.
Notwithstanding the major steps taken to ensure co-creation with local civil society in the community, we believe that as part of OGP Local, we will continue with our effort to foster a great collaboration between the government and civil society. In line with OGP aspiration, CSOs would serve as monitoring and evaluation bodies in implementing the action plan within the framework of the OGP Local in 2023.

Open Government Challenges, Opportunities and Strategic Vision

What is the long-term vision for open government in your context and jurisdiction?

The long-term vision for open government in the aspect of Open contracting and procurement in AMAC are:

• Improve the participation/involvement of AMAC residents in the procurement process.
• To ensure that the contracting/bidding process is as open and inclusive as possible.
• To create a culture of open governance values and ethics within the AMAC open contracting and public procurement

To have a seamless digitized procurement process

What are the achievements in open government to date (for example, recent open government reforms)?

Achievements in open government in our administration include the following:

• Improved citizen engagement and participation in the budgetary process

AMAC held sensitization meetings which en-broadened the citizens’ knowledge of the budgetary process and also created a budget calendar that ensured proper dissemination of information about the budgetary process in a timely manner. Its accessibility to the citizens enabled the residents of AMAC to input valid contributions across the budget cycle.

Developed data collection tools- we created and designed tools for data collection which included a citizens feedback tool, needs assessment, dis-aggregated attendance register, pre, and post-assessment tools

• Established civic platforms for the collection of community needs

In collaboration with selected CSOs, we created some established platforms for the collection of needs of citizens in the community. some of these platforms are ward town hall meetings, and social media profiles e.g. Twitter handle and Instagram handle. these improved the level of citizens’ budget participation and contribution.

• Capacity buildingEnhancing the skills, abilities, and processes of public servants, civil society, and citizens is essential to achieving long-lasting results in opening government. Technical specifications: Set of ac...

The Area Council engaged and trained the ward councilors and community champions on collecting community needs for budget development. these were instrumental in ensuring that the collation of citizens’ needs was seamless.

• Partnership with NGOs (PWAN) to carry out research on the areas of vulnerability to corruption in our service delivery

What are the current challenges/areas for improvement in open government that the jurisdiction wishes to tackle?

Lack of enlightenment/awareness of public procurement; another challenge is the inadequate level of awareness on open contracting and public procurement to the residents of AMAC. This implies that the citizens are not well informed and enlightened on their responsibilities.

Poor competitiveness; the selective approach of the government in awarding contracts to a particular set of persons as a result of favoritism and relationship, has made the procurement system less competitive.

Analog system of public procurement; the failure to digitalize the procurement system has truncated the level of transparency and fiscal openness. The difficulty of operating the analog procurement process in terms of slow service delivery, higher level of bias, as well as easier manipulation is a major challenge that needs to be tackled.

Low consideration for GenderOGP participating governments are bringing gender perspectives to popular policy areas, ensuring diversity in participatory processes, and specifically targeting gender gaps in policies to address gov... More inclusiveness; the challenge of men majorly being the beneficiaries of contracts cannot be overemphasized. some of the criteria for bidding on contracts are most suitable and favorable to men than women, for example, level of experience, and number of contracts executed. Another area is the number of male contractors to female contracts, in terms of ratio, there is a large margin which presents the men with a greater advantage. in conclusion, most women tend to operate in the space of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), leaving women with a lesser chance to bid, and win contracts.

What are the medium-term open government goals that the government wants to achieve?

AMAC is committed to achieving the following medium-term goals:

• To increase awareness and promote citizens’ participation in the procurement process through the holding of dialogue meetings, media publicity, town hall meetings, and sensitization programs on public procurement.
• To ensure that the process of contracting/procurement is open to the public and that the criteria/requirement for qualification is accommodating and reasonably attainable to all including women and young people.
• To ensure proper understanding of the concept of open government within the Area Council by developing the knowledge capacity of the AMAC government administrators and strengthening the collaboration of CSOs and the Area Council for effective Monitoring and Evaluation.
• To modernize the procurement system by use of digital tools such as websites, mobile apps, and online bidding platforms, that are user friendly as well as the use of social media platforms, TVs, and radios for publicity.

How does this action plan contribute to achieve the Open Government Strategic Vision?

AMAC is committed to implementing the following commitments for the OGP Local Action Plan 2023.

The first commitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... seeks to improve fiscal openness within the procurement process with cognizance of citizens’ needs and participation. This ensures that the citizens will participate in the procurement process in a transparent and accessible manner, reduce corruption and promote integrity.

The second commitment aims to include gender responsiveness in the contracting and procurement process. This will help ensure that government takes into consideration that the re-modification of the eligibility criteria for contract bidding is equitable so as to achieve the inclusion of women in the procurement procedure. This will help the government create room for women to compete in the procurement process.

The third commitment seeks to modernize and improve the procurement process in order to increase transparency and efficiency through digitization. this provides the public access to contracting information as a basis for participation, feedback, and making informed contributions to the learning and improvement procurement process. Being a learning process, it builds the capacity of the participating stakeholders through the provision of actionable empirical data. Digitizing the open contracting process will help simplify data in a way that ordinary citizens can make an informed judgment from datasets by collecting data with the end users in mind.

How does the open government strategic vision contribute to the accomplishment of the current administration’s overall policy goals?

In line with the ambitious Open Government goals, the OGP Local Action Plan 2023 will further ensure that transparency, accountability, participation, and inclusion are embedded in the culture and practice of governments at the local level.

Additionally, since the vision promotes a Government that collaborates with civil society, academia, the private sectorGovernments are working to open private sector practices as well — including through beneficial ownership transparency, open contracting, and regulating environmental standards. Technical specificat... More, and others to find and implement innovative and sustainable solutions to societal challenges, our goals are aimed at enhancing the collaboration of AMAC and its CSO members.

It is helping in boosting the relationship with members of CSOs.

It helps improve public service efficiency.

In conclusion, the vision contributes to building citizens’ trust level with the government as well as enabling public service efficiency.

Engagement and Coordination in the Open Government Strategic Vision and OGP Action Plan

Please list the lead institutions responsible for the implementation of this OGP action plan.

• The Office of the Administration
• Logistic Unit of the Council
• The Anti-corruption transparency unit of the Council (ACTU)
• Consultant development partners’ office
• Department of Works and Housing

What kind of institutional arrangements are in place to coordinate between government agencies and departments to implement the OGP action plan?

To ensure that the implementation of the 2023 OGP Local Action Plan is achieved, a Working Group has been created by AMAC to develop and implement OGP Local Action Plan 2023. The Working group consists of citizen representatives of AMAC, Council representatives, and civil society organizations. The Working Group will act as a coordination mechanism to develop and monitor the implementation of the short-term and long-term goals identified by the strategy. The rules of procedures including frequency of meetings, membership, etc. will be determined. The working group is responsible for coordinating and communicating with other departments related to their participation in the co-creation processCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders (e.g., citizens, academics, private sector) is at the heart of the OGP process. Participating governments must ensure that a dive..., as well as the implementation of commitments to which they lead or contribute. It will meet quarterly with departments to check on progress and carry out communication on progress and needs within the public administration.

A steering committeeThe Steering Committee is OGP’s executive decision-making body. Its role is to develop, promote and safeguard OGP’s values, principles and interests; establish OGP’s core ideas, policies, and ru... made up of CSOs has been created to develop, promote and safeguard OGP’s values, principles, and interests, establish OGP’s core ideas, policies, and rules, and oversee the functioning of the partnership.

What kind of spaces have you used or created to enable the collaboration between government and civil society in the co-creation and implementation of this action plan? Mention both offline and online spaces.

The following spaces have been created for the co-creation, coordination, and implementation of the action plan:

Upon the inception of the government in 2019, an office was created for the members of civil society to enable engagement and exchange of information with members of the council. The office liaises with the members of the CSO who are part of the co-creation team in the implementation of the action plan (The steering committee).

We have utilized both online and offline spaces for participation for Online participation the use of Zoom meetings was deployed as well as the use of our social media platform, while for Offline participation the use of town halls meetings, AMAC women in governance workshop, dialogue sessions, CSOs, and government engagement meetings.

What measures did you take to ensure diversity of representation (including vulnerable or marginalized populations) in these spaces?

In order to ensure diversity of representation we involved the civil societies representing the interest of vulnerable or marginalized groups are vital parts of the co-creation team and the steering committee. We also ensure gender balance among the team. Women in the business organization were also invited to join the implementation committee.

Who participated in these spaces?

• DEAN Initiative
• Action aidMore and better information about aid helps partner countries and donor institutions plan and manage aid resources more effectively, parliaments and civil society to hold governments accountable for t..., Nigeria
• BudgIt Nigeria
• Africa Centre for Leadership, Strategy, and Development
• Connected development
• Accountability Lab
• HEDA resource center
• Members of the council from various departments and unit

How many groups participated in these spaces?

20

How many public-facing meetings were held in the co-creation process?

4

How will government and non-governmental stakeholders continue to collaborate through the implementation of the action plan?

5 government staff and 5 Non-Governmental organizations form the steering committee for the implementation of the commitment plan and oversee the action plan for the council. The steering committee was set up as a platform for members of the Non-governmental organization to continue collaborating with the council to achieve the OGP mandate and action plan goal. They will also manage the OGP secretariat. The civil society who are members of the steering committee made commitments to support the council in carrying out some of the activities on the plan.

Please describe the independent Monitoring Body you have identified for this plan.

Anti-corruption and transparency unit of the council. This is an independent corruption body created in line with the federal government’s mandate to address the issues of corruption in public service. The unit is headed by the head of personnel at the council and with members from various departments like legal, audit, finance, procurement, etc. The unit identifies issues of corruption in service delivery and sends its report directly to the federal government corruption agency (ICPC) without the interference of the local council authorities.

Provide the contact details for the independent monitoring body.

• Barr. Ayodele Shona, Head, The Legal Division, AMAC, ayoodey@gmail.com

What types of activities will you have in place to discuss progress on commitments with stakeholders?

The Steering Group will have a designated Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) person who will be responsible for monitoring the OGP activities. Their role includes:

• Develop an effective engagement strategy during the action plan implementation.
• Develop and jointly implement monitoring activities.
• Support members of the public to constructively engage in the OGP process.
• Maintain communication with government agencies and civil society responsible in the Regular Forum for implementing specific commitments during the implementation period.
• Build partnerships between all forms of media and the OGP process.
• Monitor and report OGP performance.

The M&E person will contact government agencies responsible for the implementation of specific commitments to get information on progress and report to the Steering Group. This update will happen at least once a quarter. If necessary the M&E personnel will hold a meeting to discuss progress and any highlights worth reporting or any challenges in implementation that may require support by the Steering Group or the Regular Forum participants.

How will you regularly check in on progress with implementing agencies?

• Regular publication on our media pages on the progress made
• Regular dialogue sessions with stakeholders at the mid-term evaluation
• Series of webinars with the public on the results of the commitment plan
• Final town hall meeting with the public to discuss the outcome and output of the action plan

How will you share the results of your monitoring efforts with the public?

• Regular publication on our media pages on the progress made
• Regular dialogue sessions with stakeholders at the mid-term evaluation
• Series of webinars with the public on the results of the commitment plan
• Final town hall meeting with the public to discuss the outcome and output of the action plan

Endorsement from Non-Governmental Stakeholders

• Semiye Michael, Executive Director, DEAN Initiative
• Mr. Kingsley, Community Engagement Officer, Connected Development (CODE)
• Henry Omokhaye, Program Officer, BudgIt Nigeria
• Mr. Lawal Sunday, Director of Development, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy
• Mrs. Suwaiba, Partnership and Local Rights Programs Officer, Action Aid Nigeria

Other resources:

• OGP Workshop Report 2023 
• Survey