Action plan – Kaduna State, Nigeria, 2021 – 2023

At-a-Glance

Duration

March 2023

Date Submitted

25th October 2021

Foreword(s)

In 2016, the Kaduna State Government joined the Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More (OGP) as part of its commitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... to promote accountability, transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More and citizens’ engagement in governance. From the first OGP Action Plan (2018-2020), the State Government made concerted efforts to institutionalize these OGP principles in all sectors of the state.

Our membership of the OGP demonstrates our commitment in ensuring more effective citizens` participation across the entire budget cycle, full Implementation of Open ContractingA transparent procurement process, known as open contracting, increases competition, improves public service delivery, and ensures governments better value for their money. Technical specifications: C... Data Standards (OCDS) in the public sector, improved Ease of Doing Business, developing guidelines and establishing effective implementation procedures for the actualization of the public`s right to access information held by government and developing a permanent dialogue mechanism through technology-based Citizen Feedback on all projects and programmes.

The new OGP Action Plan 2021-2023 will focus on five commitment areas which include, Open Budget, Open Contracting, Citizens’ Engagement, Strengthening Social Protection System and Improving Service Delivery in the Education and Health Sectors. The Commitment Areas are broken into activities and targets for the relevant MDAs to implement.

I wish to express my deep appreciation to all Government officials, the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Development Partners, Communities and Religious Leaders and Global OGP for the support and collaboration in the processes of development and implementation of the first Action Plan. We look forward to the continuing support of our partners as we move to the next level.

Finally, it is my hope that the co-creation and co-implementation of this plan by the State Government and Civil Society actors will strengthen the relationship between citizens and government, ensure no one is left behind and increase citizens’ trust in government.

Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai, OFR

Governor of Kaduna State

Open Government Challenges, Opportunities and Strategic Vision

This subsection details the Open Government Strategic Vision in your local area that should guide the commitments for the action plan period.

What is the long-term vision for open government in your context and jurisdiction?

In the beginning of this administration in 2015, we began the implementation of several open government initiatives to include strengthening fiscal transparency and adopting citizens’ engagement reforms. The State considers its OGP commitment areas as the platforms to further strengthen its reform initiatives as follows:

• Improved transparent and accountable citizens-oriented governance through effective budget implementation.
• Effective and efficient procurement system evident in better contract outcomes that guarantee value for money, transparency, accountability, and robust civic participation.
• Improved transparent and accountable citizens-oriented governance, through effective budget implementation using the Citizens Feedback Application.
• To provide a life of dignity for all.
• To improve accountability and transparency of the service delivery processes in health services through public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio....
• Improved equitable access to quality educational services for formal and non-formal education in the State and improved partnerships for results between state actors and non-state actors that ensure the implementation of education policies across the State.

What are the achievements in open government to date (for example, recent open government reforms)?

Since joining OGP in 2016, the State has rolled-out several interventions to open government through five (5) commitments namely open budgeting, open contracting, ease of doing business, public`s right to access information (FOI) and citizens engagement. Some key achievements across commitment areas include:

• Adoption and implementation of citizens-oriented budget, timely publication and dissemination of the State Budget, Citizens Budget and Quarterly Budget Performance; established Community Development Charter (CDC) Desk at Planning and Budget Commission.
• Publication and Distribution of Public Procurement Law and Guidelines (both online and hardcopies), publication of contracts in line with the Open Contracting Data Standards (OCDS), deployment and implementation of e-Procurement Portal, public sensitization and mobilization of stakeholders on public procurement principles and processes.
• Institutional reforms in KADIPA, KADGIS, KASUPDA and KADIRS that saw the State ranked as the first in Ease of Doing Business; attracted billions of dollars’ worth of investments to the State, published periodic Ease of Doing Business reports, provided vocational, digital and entrepreneurial skills to thousands of citizens.
• Developed and currently expanding coverage of the Eyes and Citizens Feedback online application; introduced toll free lines, radio and TV programs; established Citizens Feedback Desk at the Kaduna State House of Assembly.

What are the current challenges/areas for improvement in open government that the jurisdiction wishes to tackle?

• Inadequate public inclusionOGP participating governments are working to create governments that truly serve all people. Commitments in this area may address persons with disabilities, women and girls, lesbian, gay, bisexual, tr... and trust: We need to deepen integration of Community Development Charter in budget formulation and implementation to encourage public inclusion and trust.
• The Citizens Feedback App for driving citizens’ engagement is not robust enough to provide timely feedback. We intend to bridge this gap by modifying the app to have a feature that provides feedback real time.
• The rising levels of poverty worsened by the outbreak of COVID-19, maternal and child mortality, youthRecognizing that investing in youth means investing in a better future, OGP participating governments are creating meaningful opportunities for youth to participate in government processes. Technical ... unemployment, the poor state of our education and healthcare, widening inequality and many other challenges of vulnerable residents of the State necessitated the need to strengthen social protection. We seek to improve social protection by enacting a Social Protection Law and enrolling more beneficiaries into Social Protection Programmes.
• Despite the launch of the OCDS portal, the availability of useful procurement information at various stages of the procurement process has remained a challenge. We seek to bridge the gap by using innovative technology to increase access to procurement information.
• Improving service delivery in education and health remains a challenge. Infrastructural insufficiency has affected inclusiveness; inadequate system capacity, citizens’ participation and clients’ patronage persist. We intend to strengthen access to information on programme and project implementation by building the capacities of local communities for better and sustained engagement.

What are the medium-term open government goals that the government wants to achieve?

The medium-term open government goals for the State are as follows:

• Develop an open government ecosystem for Kaduna State that can work as a template for coordinating and advancing open government reforms. The goal is to involve citizens in the decision-making processes, make them participants of the management of the State’s challenges and offer useful information to active citizens that live and work in our state.
• Consolidate fiscal openness in Kaduna by expanding the platform that show the state’s expenses and how resources are distributed to promote participation and accountability. In addition, we want to open up all information on revenues as well.
• Consolidate a public-private sector articulation program which promotes the creation of a new interphase between government, companies/service providers and citizens in a way that generates trust and efficiency gains from public procurement and economic reactivation programs.
• Introduce a system of e-government to speed administrative management and move forward with the progressive digitization of processing and internal communication hitherto performed on paper, with the final goal of easing interaction within government and between government and the citizens.

How does this action plan contribute to achieve the Open Government Strategic Vision?

By making budget inputs and information available and accessible to all citizens promptly and in a usable format, the first commitment will improve accountability on the part of the government, provide openness and transparency in the budget process, and ensure that citizens are engaged throughout the budget cycle. Similarly, the institutionalization of CDC in the State budget manual will guarantee sustainability of participatory governance.

The second commitment seeks to increase access to procurement information using innovative technology while the third commitment seeks to improve access to governance by citizens and responsiveness of government to the needs of citizens using all available means including, but not limited to, mobile phones and the radio.

The fourth commitment will improve the dignity of life for all residents of Kaduna State by reducing the level of poverty in the State. Specifically, this commitment will prioritize efforts aimed at increasing the number of vulnerable residents able to access social protection services on the basis of right as well as increasing the number of beneficiaries who graduate from the social register on account of improved standard of living.

The last commitment seeks to close existing gaps in access and quality of education and health service delivery.

How does the open government strategic vision contribute to the accomplishment of the current administration’s overall policy goals?

The Open government strategic vision contributes to the accomplishment of the Kaduna State Development Plan (SDP) (2021-2025) by establishing open government components that can impact on the economic and social development.

The current Development Plan shows a resolve for a digital economy reflected in robust e-governance in partnership with Microsoft. There is also an ongoing feasibility study for the adoption of a state-wide digital payment infrastructure to promote and support financial inclusion.

The SDP seeks to expand the size of our sub-nationalRecognizing that much of what impacts people’s daily lives occurs at the local level, many OGP countries are working to open up lower levels of government by creating commitments focused on subnatio... economy, build human capital, expand opportunity, put more people into gainful work and provide social protection.

Similarly, through the SDP, the State seeks to further accelerate economic growth through diversification and development of new opportunities. Policies and investments in the ICT sector will be further harnessed to transform the State into a knowledge-based economy, capable of tapping into the growth potentials of the digital economy and the fourth industrial revolution. We believe that we can harness the skills and talents of our youths with the jobs and opportunities of the modern age.

Lastly, the commitment areas’ achievement will contribute to the expansion of revenues supported by laws and measures that promote good governance through improved public finance management. This will ensure that development across the State is robust enough to support a life of dignity for all citizens and residents.

Engagement and Coordination in the Open Government Strategic Vision and OGP Action Plan

Please list the lead institutions responsible for the implementation of this OGP action plan.

• Kaduna State Planning and Budget Commission (KADPBC)
• Kaduna State Public Procurement Authority (KADPPA)
• Kaduna State Social Investment Office (KASIO)
• Kaduna State Ministry of Education (MOE)
• Kaduna State Ministry of Health (KSMOH)

What kind of institutional arrangements are in place to coordinate between government agencies and departments to implement the OGP action plan?

The OGP Secretariat domiciled in the Planning and Budget Commission is the Executive Space for the co-creation processCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders (e.g., citizens, academics, private sector) is at the heart of the OGP process. Participating governments must ensure that a dive... and follow-up of the Action Plan. Decisions are taken by consensus. Some of its functions include:

• Address matters related to the participation and involvement of other government actors.
• Develop and sustain internal and external communication channels on the implementation process of the action plan.
• Follow-up the fulfilment of the action plan.
• Develop training initiative, workshops and training of public officials in collaboration with donor partners.
• This working group is responsible for coordinating and communicating with other departments related to their participation in the co-creation process, and the implementation of commitments to which they lead or contribute. It will meet quarterly with departments to check on progress and carry out the communication on progress and needs within the public administration.

What kind of spaces have you used or created to enable the collaboration between government and civil society in the co-creation and implementation of this action plan? Mention both offline and online spaces.

The following spaces have been created for the co-creation, coordination and implementation of the action plan in the State:

• The OGP Secretariat is the coordination Office, responsible for the development process of the action plan, the measures for the implementation, determining the dissemination and communication plan, and carrying out the monitoring of the results.
• The Regular Forum is a Technical Working Group (TWG) which encompasses a larger number of government and non-governmental stakeholders. The regular forum actively participates in the co-creation of commitments as well as their implementation and monitoring. The Regular Forum has a technical secretariat made up Government and Civil Society both headed by Co-chairsThe leadership of the Steering Committee is made up of four co-chairs who provide strategic guidance and support to advance OGP’s overarching priorities. Co-Chairs serve two-year terms beginning on .... There are members of each commitment area who together with the Co-chairs form the State Steering CommitteeThe Steering Committee is OGP’s executive decision-making body. Its role is to develop, promote and safeguard OGP’s values, principles and interests; establish OGP’s core ideas, policies, and ru... (SSC).
• The Open Forum invites citizens to deliberative acts related to the preparation, monitoring and evaluation of the plan, through the online WhatsApp or Zoom platform, which has been created for this purpose, and other channels of communication that enable the widest possible dissemination of the consultation.
• There are also periodic townhall meetings organized by the TWGs involving Community Development Champions who are representatives of the different communities in the State responsible for preparation of Community Development Charters (CDCs).

What measures did you take to ensure diversity of representation (including vulnerable or marginalized populations) in these spaces?

In order to ensure the diversity of the representation in these spaces, we developed a comprehensive communication plan, to reach out to all groups. The Open Form was designed with an online and in-person component to include those suffering from the technology barrier. In addition, the selection of the civil society organizations that are part of the regular forum included representation from vulnerable groups including genderOGP participating governments are bringing gender perspectives to popular policy areas, ensuring diversity in participatory processes, and specifically targeting gender gaps in policies to address gov... and women’s groups, persons with disabilities and indigenous populations.

The Steering Group issued over 90 invitations to organizations and individuals to participate in the Regular Forum in accordance with diversity (age, gender, migration, urban-rural, organized, unorganized, expert, neighborhood, public-private citizens) and territoriality criteria, and it was opened up as a proposal on the government’s citizen engagement website.

Who participated in these spaces?

The decision to conduct deliberative forums was related to the idea of generating spaces for exchange to produce new inputs for the definition of commitments, providing the debate with greater depth and plurality of voices through the incorporation of citizens’ perspective.

• Represented sectors: Citizens, neighbourhood, community organizations, government, academia, and private sectorGovernments are working to open private sector practices as well — including through beneficial ownership transparency, open contracting, and regulating environmental standards. Technical specificat....
• Dynamic: Exchange forums for the generation of diagnosis and identification of the main topics rated by the citizens (inputs for further commitment).

The total of unique participants in co-creation process was 372 persons. The composition was as follows:

• Civil Society Organization representatives- 20
• Questions received online – 47
• Total Government participants (per area) 29
• Total of participants in deliberative forums (non-affiliated to an organization) – 176
• Total of participants in workshops (non-affiliated to an organization) – 85
• Academia participants (Network or institution) – 5

Private Sector – 10

How many groups participated in these spaces?

372

How many public-facing meetings were held in the co-creation process?

8

How will government and non-governmental stakeholders continue to collaborate through the implementation of the action plan?

The OGP Secretariat at the Planning and Budget Commission is set up to coordinate and facilitate the implementation of each commitment. The secretariate is set up to be coordinated and led by the PoC who is from government and A citizen Advisor who will deputise the PoCs and who will be from the CS Community. In the same vain, each TWG is made up of Government and Civil Society will team up to achieve each commitment. They will meet quarterly to plan activities, coordinate responsibilities among implementing partners, identify and overcome challenges in implementation and discuss updates and milestones as they happen. These TWGs were established during the co-creation process and leaders of the groups form the State Steering Committee where strategic challenges and milestones will also be discussed/addressed for better results.

Please describe the independent Monitoring Body you have identified for this plan.

The monitoring body for the action plan will consist of a consortium of academics and civil society representatives. This body will be led by a member of the academic community from the Local University (Kaduna State University) who will also be the main point of contact. Members of the academia will be involved in collecting the evidence, filing the forms, and analyzing the results.

The monitoring body will meet once after the co-creation process has ended and each time there is an assessment of an implemented commitment.

Provide the contact details for the independent monitoring body.

• Prof. Hauwa Evelyn Yusuf, Director, Centre for Gender Studies, Kaduna State University, eveadex@gmail.com
• Dr. Mohammed Maidugu, Lecturer, Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna., maidugu2000@gmail.com
• Dr. Peter Adamu, Lecturer, Department of Economics Kaduna State University, peteradamu@gmail.com
• Muhammad Sani Kassim, Program Lead, Transparency and Accountability in Totality Initiative (FollowTaxes), mskassim07@gmail.com
• Mrs. Jummai C. Bako, Director M&E, Planning and Budget Commission, Kaduna, jummaibako94@gmail.com
• Rebecca Sako-John, Executive Director, Legal Awareness for Nigerian Women (LANW), bekkiejohn@gmail.com
• Mustapha Jumare, Chairman, Kaduna Maternal Accountability Mechanism (KADMAM), m.jumare@yahoo.com
• Emmanuel Bonet, Executive Director, Aid Foundation, Kaduna, askbonet@gmail.com

What types of activities will you have in place to discuss progress on commitments with stakeholders?

The Steering Committee will designate some Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) persons who will be responsible for monitoring of the OGP activities. Their roles will include:

• Developing effective engagement strategy during the action plan implementation.
• Developing and jointly implementing monitoring activities.
• Supporting members of the public to constructively engage the OGP process.
• Maintaining communication with government agencies and civil society responsible in the Regular Forum for implementing specific commitments during the implementation period.
• Building partnerships between all forms of media and the OGP process.
• Monitoring and reporting OGP performance.

How will you regularly check in on progress with implementing agencies?

The M&E persons will contact government agencies responsible for implementation of specific commitments to get information on progress and report to the Steering Group. This update will happen at least once a quarter. If necessary, the M&E personnel will hold a meeting to discuss progress and any highlights worth reporting or any challenges in implementation that may require support by the Steering Committee or the TWGs.

How will you share the results of your monitoring efforts with the public?

The results of implementation will be shared with the public through:

• The Kaduna OGP Local portal, which will publish content on a quarterly basis.
• Regular communication with traditional media outlets as well as published materials on social media.
• The minutes of the Steering committee meetings on progress which will be made publicly available as well as our repositoryAccess to relevant information is essential for enabling participation and ensuring accountability throughout the OGP process. An OGP repository is an online centralized website, webpage, platform or ... of documents that show completionImplementers must follow through on their commitments for them to achieve impact. For each commitment, OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) evaluates the degree to which the activities outlin... of commitments.
• Self-Assessment Report

Endorsement from Non-Governmental Stakeholders

• Hadiza Umar, CEO, Hope for Communities and Children Initiative (H4CC) and Co-chair OGP
• Joshua James, CEO, Open Kaduna Radio

Kaduna State Social Protection Policy – 2020
Kaduna Mutual Accountability Framework
Kaduna State – Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2022-2024
Kaduna State Development Plan 2021-2025
Kaduna Open Government Strategic Vision 2021-2023