Donald Duke, Peter Obi, Japheth Omojuwa, Seun Onigbinde, others call for transparency and accountability in government
Former governor of Anambra, Peter Obi, has called for transparency and accountability in governance across all levels. Mr. Obi expressed this notion at The Nigeria Symposium for Young and Emerging Leaders which took place today at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Themed ‘Open Governance: Improving Transparency and Accountability in Government’, the Symposium brings together leaders in politics, business, media, and more to discuss issues and challenges of open government and active citizenship.
While speaking, Peter Obi decried the cost of governance in Nigeria stating that Nigeria needs a broad, comprehensive approach to address issues of budget inflation and corruption among public servants.
“The present cost of governance in Nigeria is totally unacceptable”, Obi said. “Expenses of running the government in Nigeria is at the detriment of the citizens. Most Nigerians have no knowledge of the Chairman of their local government, so how do you expect to keep them accountable?”
Seun Onigbinde, Co-founder, BudgIT, affirmed that citizens need to demand answers from elected officials at all levels.
“Nigerians need to demand for transparency all the time. The National Assembly spends 10 times the budget of other federal institutions in the country. The government serves the people, not the other way round. Nigeria is our collective responsibility, and as true citizens of this country, we need to find our voices,” Onigbinde said.
Speakers at the event include Donald Duke, former governor of Cross River; Deji Adeyanju, former PDP social media director; Demola Olarewaju, political strategist/analyst; and Japheth Omojuwa, founder and chief strategist, Alpha Reach.
Others are Dayo Isreal, youth advocate; Rinsola Abiola, youth advocate; Ayo Thompson, award-winning TV/Radio presenter; Seun Okinbaloye, Arit Okpo and political correspondent, Channels TV.
The third edition of the Nigeria Symposium for Young and Emerging Leaders was powered by The Future Project, in partnership with National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and Y!/YNaija.com.
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About The Future Project
The Future Project has a mandate to build empowered citizens across Africa, through (inclusive) enterprise and (active) citizenship. This focus on Human Capital Development is informed by our value proposition: Africa’s growth needs a generation of young people who are gainfully employed and able to demand and secure better leadership.
Projects include Aiki.ng, an employability portal presented with Microsoft; the Nigeria Symposium for Young & Emerging Leaders, #StartupsAfrica, Intern4Jobs, YMonitor.org presented with National Endowment for Democracy (NED), The Future Enterprise Support Scheme and The Future Awards Africa, described as ‘The Nobel Prize for Young Africans’.
Founded by the Chude Jideonwo and Adebola Williams, TFP is supervised by a Global Board of Advisors drawn from Africa, Europe, North America and the Middle East, including the Coordinating Minister of the Nigerian Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Senior Economic Advisor with the Open Society Foundations, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili; co-founder of ONE, Jamie Drummond and the Chief of Cabinet with the Africa Development Bank, Anne Kabagambe.
1 comment
Obviously we really need transparency and accountability in government. The annoying thing is that all those propagating and professing transparency and accountability were not known to observe these while in government. How come they are now apostles of what they failed to practice. Can we call this warming up exercise for another political campaign?