Leadership (Abuja)
17 December 2011
editorial
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) recently unveiled an internet portal in Abuja for the 36 states of the federation. It is the first time that activities of the second tier of government are warehoused in one single location.
With the launch of the portal, the forum is becoming a learning organisation. Until now, the goal of the forum appeared to be mainly politicking, especially when it comes to contentious national issues relating to the governors’ collective interest – selfish or otherwise.
Information on the portal was collated from paper files, books and electronic sources. Featured on the site are inaugural speeches of governors, state budgets, as well as lists of members of cabinet. Also uploaded are details of bills passed by the 36 state Houses of Assembly, their stages and processes.
This commendable digital advancement was achieved in collaboration with the State Partnership for Accountability, Responsiveness and Accountability (SPARC). Of singular importance in terms of governance, therefore, is the states peer review mechanism which the portal also houses. Between 2009 and 2010, the NGF secretariat embarked on an assessment of development projects in states. Though the reviews were not based on any benchmarks, they highlighted activities of states and created opportunities for sharing. A programme of the United Kingdom Department for International Development, SPARC has since evolved as an acceptable review system for the process.
The state-level review mechanism has some innovations compared to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) initially adopted by the National Economic Council. For example, thematic areas for the country-level and continental-level reviews of APRM are sectored. Thus, there are five areas, including democracy and good governance. Thematic areas in the state review exercise, on the other hand, lean more towards deliverables. These include policy and strategy, resource management, timely service, customer satisfaction and engagement of citizens.
However, as laudable as this portal launch seems, we are concerned about its layered accessibility. This means that some areas of the portal and materials in them are restricted to members of the public. Minutes of meetings of governors, for example, are not available to citizens. They can only be accessed by governors and a certain cadre of civil servants. This restriction defeats the aim of the portal as a one-stop information hub, since it still disseminates only what the governors want disseminated.
The assumption perhaps is that government employees need a certain level of confidentiality to function. It may equally be argued that no government in the world, not even the most advanced democracies, allows full disclosure. Though the physically-unencumbered arena which the portal represents is a good starting point for civic engagement, excessive classification of government business is against that spirit.
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