Okon Bassey in Uyo
The governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Pastor Umo Eno and All Progressive Congress (APC), Mr. Akan Udofia on Sunday shunned the political debate that was packaged by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Akwa Ibom State council.
Information on their withdrawal was officially communicated on the floor of the political debate after they had earlier indicated interest to participate in the exercise.
Candidates òf seven out of about 13 political parties in the State showed interest in the debate but the candidates of PDP and APC sent in notes officially withdrawing from the debate.
Governorship candidates that took part in the debate included: Mr Iboro Otu of the African Action Congress (AAC), Mr. Ezekiel Nyaetok of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dr David Essien, Action Democratic Party (ADP), Senator John James Akpanudoeghe of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and Senator Bassey Akpan of Young Progressives Party (YPP).
The five governorship candidates that participated signed the Open Governorship Manifesto to symbolise their readiness to run an open government agenda, if elected.
The manifesto, put together by Policy Alert and presented during the governorship debate was aimed at committing the candidates to implement the Open Governorship Partnership (OGP) in the state when there is changes government in May 2023.
Speaking during the presentation, Senior Programme Officer of Policy Alert, Mfon Gabriel, said: “The OGP is a global multi-stakeholder initiative that brings reformers in and outside of government to work together to create solutions that make government more transparent, accountable, and participatory.
“Nigeria signed on to the OGP in 2016 and so far, 25 states have signed on to the OGP, yet Akwa Ibom is one of the three states in the Niger Delta that has not yet signed on to the Partnership.”
He added that the Niger Delta presents an interesting case for sub-national open government implementation as states in the region currently receive the highest in terms of federally allocated revenue compared to other states.
Policy Alert held that the signing of the Manifesto was part of an OpenGovTownHall series implemented by the Niger-Delta Open Government Observatory (NOGO), a civil society cluster working to strengthen the uptake and implementation of OGP in the region.
The body said NOGO is currently implemented in six states of the Niger Delta with support from USAID Nigeria/Palladium Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) project. The project is led by Policy Alert in partnership with Nigeria’s Open Government Partnership (OGP) Secretariat, Open Alliance, the Mail Newspaper, and The Roothub, among others.
