• Inaugurates steering committee on open governance
• Says prompt payment of salaries, others not achievement
Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, has inaugurated a steering committee on Open Government Partnership (OGP) with a call on all local councils in the state to embrace the drive to strengthen public participation, transparency, accountability, and effective citizens’ engagement in the affairs of government.
Oyebanji, while inaugurating the committee yesterday, said that his administration would replicate the scheme in all the councils to prioritise inclusion of the needs and aspirations of the people in their governance.
He added that the OGP initiative would increase collaboration between government and other stakeholders to improve the standard of living of the people in the state.
In his keynote address, Director-General, Office of Development Partnerships, Ekiti State, Oyeleye Abiodun, stated that OGP is a new multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.
Oyeleye lauded Oyebanji for his unrivaled support for the scheme in the state, stressing that it is a global effort to make governments better as citizens want a more transparent, effective, and accountable government with institutions that empower citizens and responsive to their yearnings.
In their separate remarks, the co-chairmen of the committee, Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Niyi Adebayo, and Chairman, Coalition of Ekiti Civil Society Organisations (COECSO), Prof. Oluwadare Christopher, also commended the governor for his various giant strides towards instituting and promoting good governance and fiscal discipline in the public service and in the management of resources of the state through open and transparent procurement process, budget consultative meetings with stakeholders and periodical town hall meetings.
In another development, Oyebanji, yesterday, said that payment of workers’ salaries, as well as gratuities and pensions for retired workers, should not be seen as an achievements by a governor, saying that such a governor has no business in government if that is the only thing he could do.
The governor, who spoke during the swearing-in ceremony of three newly appointed permanent secretaries, said that the responsibility of a governor goes beyond just paying workers salary and allowances, adding that he has a duty to provide security for the people so that they could sleep with their two eyes closed in addition to making life comfortable for them.
He, therefore, urged the newly appointed permanent secretaries to hit the ground running and key into policy direction of the government as managers of human and material resources, urging them to give their all at the critical time.
