By Our Reporter
Policy Alert, a non-governmental organization working to promote economic and ecological justice in the Niger Delta, has announced that the US Consul General (Nigeria) Will Stevens will attend the first in a series of OpenGov Town Halls this Friday in Asaba, Delta State.
The event is being organized under the auspices of the Niger-Delta Open Observatory (NOGO) cluster supported by the USAID Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) project implemented by Palladium. The project is aimed at strengthening the uptake and implementation of Open Government Partnership (OGP) in Niger Delta states.
In a statement released this afternoon, the organization’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.”
According to the statement, the high point of the event will be the signing of the Open Government Manifesto by candidates to be witnessed by the US Consul General and a cross-section of the electorates. The signing will publicly symbolize their commitment to an open government agenda and their readiness to sustain ongoing governance reforms if elected.
The organization 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, led by Policy Alert in partnership with Nigeria’s Open Government Partnership (OGP) Secretariat and LITE Africa, among other cluster members.