…ANGO promises to support govt
The Director-General of Gombe State Due Process Babayola Isa, has warned Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, saying that they won’t receive approvals to contract bids should they continue to ignore transparency by not involving Civil Society Organisations.
Isa made this disclosure on Tuesday during the quarterly review meeting of Gombe State Open Government Partnership implementation plan organised by United States Agency for International Development Nigeria, Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness State2State Activity.
According to him, for contract processes to be seen as transparent, and effective, there was need for the right collaboration.
He said, “Any MDA that want approvals that doesn’t come with Civil Society Organisations will not get it. If you don’t carry along CSOs I will not issue you certificate of no objection. This is a global best practice.
“The governor is interested in bringing in more investors in Gombe State, and there is no investor that will invest until they have checked your transparency. At the moment the government is opening its door to investors through its Muhammadu Buhari Investment Park.”
Isa urged members of Civil Society Organisations to participate, adding that their involvement would give credence to the processes.
“Please, CSOs if MDAs invite you please accept their invitation because your participation will make the process transparent. On my own part, as DG I will not process any procurement with any list of CSOs. In Open Governance Partnership we want to be number one,” Isa added.
On his part, Chairman Association of Non-Governmental Organisations Yusuf Ibrahim, lauded the Gombe State Government for collaborating with his members.
Ibrahim, “MDAs should know the channel of communication to reach the network, to get the right representatives to address the gap. The MDAs should be prepared before such bidding process, We will assist government to deliver the righteousness, but assist us and carry us along.”
Speaking earlier, Gombe State Team Lead USAID State2State Muhammad Abubakar commended the Gombe State Government, for signing into law the OGP adding that “Implementation of the OGP will reinforce and sustain the gains of transparency and accountability in Gombe State. In view of this, State2State supports implementation of the OGP programme in targeted states which include Gombe (others are Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Ebonyi and Sokoto), and this is included in the approved State2State year four work plan.”
