In a bid to further legitimize its anti-corruption, the federal government has signed Nigeria up for the Open Government Partnership.

With the confirmation of Nigeria’s membership of the initiative, Nigeria has become the ninth African country (fourth in West Africa) to become a member of the globally acclaimed Open Government Partnership.

Here are 5 things to know about the partnership.

1. The Open Government Partnership was launched in 2011 with the aim of providing an “international platform for domestic reformers committed to making their governments more open, accountable, and responsive to citizens.”

The OGP is targeted at making government: more transparent, proactive in fighting corruption, empower its citizenry, promote accountability, use new and emerging technologies to fight corruption.

 

2. The initiative was launched in 2011 and has grown from 8 country membership to 69 countries.

Nigeria is the 9th African nation to join the OGP. Other African countries that are members include: South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Tunisia.

 

3. In order to ensure that participating countries meet their agreement and achieve government reforms, the OGP has put in place conditions.

The conditions include:

a. Maintain high-level political leadership and commitment to OGP within participating countries

b.  Support domestic reformers with technical expertise and inspiration

b. Foster more engagement in OGP by a diverse group of citizens and civil society organizations

 

4. As a way of galvanizing the anti-corruption war of the President Buhari administration, the federal government, through the Office of the Attorney General, on June 20th, 2016, wrote to the OGP to join the initiative.

According to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, (SAN) “Joining the OGP will help Nigeria improve transparency in the management of natural resources, and public funds as well as citizen participation in governance.”

 

5. Also, the Nigeria government hopes that OGP will help strengthen the anti-corruption facilities of the government.

“Our goal is to improve cooperation and coordination that is an essential element in strengthening the capacity of anti-corruption agencies in Nigeria by developing a deeper, evidence-based understanding of the agencies mandate, responsibilities, competencies, capacity and outputs embedded in respect for rule of law and integrity,” Malami said.