CSOs float platform to deepen legislative engagement, accountability in Kaduna

Some members of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and development partners, have established a platform, tagged “Civil Society-Legislature Engagement and Accountability Platform (CLEAP)”, to deepen legislative engagement and accountability in Kaduna State.

A founding member, Mr Yusuf Goje of the Coalition of Association for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment and Development (CALPED), made this known in an interview with newsmen on Wednesday in Kaduna.

Goje described CLEAP as a “multi-stakeholder platform of civil society and legislators, championing reform initiatives for a more open, transparent, accountable, and responsive Kaduna State House of Assembly”.

He explained that the platform drew inspiration from the Memorandum on Parliamentary Engagement adopted by the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Steering Committee in 2021.

According to him, the platform seeks to promote OGP principles and practices in the legislative processes, to enable more openness and effective citizens’ participation and engagement.

Goje added that the CLEAP would serve as a platform for dialogue and partnership between the legislature and civil society for effective horizontal and diagonal accountability.

He stressed that the platform would increase interaction between legislators and constituents to strengthen the legislative process and deepen the culture of open governance through law-making, oversight and evaluation.

“This is crucial because, the legislative arm of government is at the heart of democracy being the institution of government that gives meaning to the government of the people, by the people and for the people.

“It is also worthy of note that good governance can only be actualised when we have an effective legislature.

“To have an effective legislature, it must be open, transparent, accountable, responsible, and responsive to citizens’ engagement.

“This will build trust and collaboration between the legislature and civil society, thereby strengthening horizontal, diagonal, and vertical accountability,” he added.

Goje said that CLEAP would be working with stakeholders within and outside the Kaduna State House of Assembly, to champion reforms that would promote a culture of legislative transparency and accountability.

This, according to him, will serve as a permanent dialogue mechanism for joint action together with CSOs.

He further explained that CLEAP would be supported by Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL), a governance programme of the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

Meanwhile, PERL’s State Lead Facilitator, Mr Abel Adejor, had explained that in the next one year, the governance programme would be supporting the state government and citizens to consolidate the gains of OGP recorded so far in the state.

Adejor identified the key priority areas of support as budget engagement, transition management, legislative engagement, audit, local governance, OGP, and mutual accountability framework.

According to report, OGP is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from national and sub-national governments.

The commitments are designed to promote open government, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.

In OGP, governments work with CSOs to create action plans with concrete reforms; a model that ensure citizens play a role in shaping and overseeing government reforms and programmes.