The Katsina State Government has identified fiscal transparency, peace-building and social cohesion, climate action, and community resilience as three priority areas for its Open Government Partnership (OGP) Action Plan.
The Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Anas Maliki, stated this Thursday in Katsina while declaring open a two-day Technical Engagement Workshop for drafting the state’s OGP Action Plan.
Maliki said the state government, under the leadership of Gov. Dikko Radda had embraced open governance as a core philosophy of public administration, stressing that sustainable development required active collaboration between government and citizens.
He said the fiscal transparency component would institutionalise citizens’ participation throughout the budget cycle, from identifying priority projects to monitoring execution, contract, and public expenditure.
According to him, the government has already institutionalised citizens’ engagement through regular budget town hall meetings across communities, providing opportunities for elders, wom, n and youths to communicate their development priorities.
Maliki said the second thematic area, strengthening peace-building and social cohesion, would focus on practical, community-based mechanisms for local dispute mediation, restorative justice, youth empowerment,and community solidarity.
“Lasting security cannot be enforced from the outside alone, it must be built from within,” he said.
He also emphasised the need for community ownership of peace-building efforts.
The commissioner said the third thematic area, building community resilience and adaptation for climate action, was aimed at addressing the effects of climate change on farmers and herders.
He identified climate-smart farming support, community-led reforestation, water conservation systems, and decentralised environmental protection as some of the interventions to be considered under the action plan.
Maliki urged participants to ensure that every commitment developed during the two-day engagement was specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and Time-bound (SMART).
He assured stakeholders that the action plan would be implemented and not merely produced as a policy document, adding that the ministry would provide the necessary institutional support to fund, monitor, and execute the commitments.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Alhaji Ahmad, in his welcome address, said the technical session was convened with a clear understanding that open government was built not on speeches but on concrete, well-designed policies co-created between the public and the people they served.
Ahmad said the participants’ efforts over the two days would centre on the identified priorities, particularly promoting transparency, accountability, and encouraging citizens’ participation in government processes.
He wished the participants fruitful and successful deliberations and urged them to contribute meaningfully to the development of the state’s OGP Action Plan.