Yemisi Izuora
The Lagos State Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Samuel Egube has reiterated that the State excels through participatory governance during the One-Day AUDA-NEPAD town Hall meeting at the state level, aimed at the sensitization of Stakeholders and Focal Point Persons in the actualization of the African Peer Review Mechanism.
The town hall meeting held at the LCCI Conference and Exhibition Centre, Alausa, Ikeja on Wednesday, is to foster the adoption and implementation of policies which includes (SDGs, AU Agenda 2063) through the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM); also aimed at adopting standards and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated regional/continental economic integration.
According to Egube: “Citizen’s participation and engagement is part of governance, the power of the citizens goes beyond the ballot boxes, they must participate in their government and, as we come together to see how we are doing, we need to engage the citizens so that we can hear from them, for the collective intelligence of the people of Lagos state is what drives the intelligence of the Government.”
He said the African Peer Review Mechanism is a voluntary assessment tool established by African Heads of States in 2003, to promote good governance and sustainable development on the Continent and it has been one of NEPAD’s most successful programmes in encouraging good governance and democratization in Africa.
The Ekiti State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources who also doubles as a member of the National Governing Council AUDA-NEPAD, and the Zonal coordinator of the South-West, Princess Iyabo Fakunle-Okiemen stated that the APRM assessment is conducted within the framework of four thematic areas such as Democracy and Political Governance, Economic Governance and Management, Corporate Governance and Socio-Economic Development.
She said that the review is not to “name and shame” any member State, the review process must be nationally owned and led by its citizens, the review process must be inclusive and participatory involving the public sector, civil society, Private sector, Media, Youth, People living with disability, Academia e.t.c adding that the review must be technically competent, credible and free from manipulation.’’
While urging participants not to withhold their views in dealing with the questions, Fakunle Okiemen said “the on-going APRM is an avenue for an all-inclusive governance, by the participation of various stakeholders in the assessment of Government within the four thematic areas and this exercise will further help to drive the change required in our nation through the acceleration of sub-regional and continental economic integration through experience sharing and reinforcement of successful and best practices, promotion of peer learning and sharing through constructive dialogue and persuasion.
While reiterating the State support for the AUDA-NEPAD, Fakunle Okeimen said, “The National Programme of Action (NPoA) is the main output of the Review Process. The National Programme of Action is to guide and mobilize the Country’s efforts in implementing the necessary changes to improve its state of governance and socio-economic development.’’
She said, “Since the presentation of the Second Progress Report, Nigeria consistently showed interest and commitment to the process which paved way to commencement of hosting the ongoing Second Country Review’’, adding that, “Based on this commitment, the Nigeria country office of NEPAD/APRM brought Heads and Experts from Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique, which have undergone the second reviews, to share their experiences with the Nigerian stakeholders between 27th -28th February, 2020.’’
Okiemen said the main expectations from this Interactive and Participatory Town Hall meeting includes raising awareness about the APRM process especially the second review process, raising awareness about the roles and responsibilities of the national structures during the second review, to seek people’s opinions and input into policies, standards and practice that could lead to political stability, high economic growth, and sustainable development. Others are to engage stakeholders on experience sharing and reinforcement of successful and best practices through constructive dialogue.
The Zonal coordinator added that the ongoing 2nd APRM processes would be difficult if citizens were not carried along in a participatory and interactive process at this Town Hall meeting because Government alone cannot attain good governance without citizens`involvement to ensure security of lives and property, facilitate economic growth, empowerment of women and youths, and eradication of poverty across the country.