AUDA-NEPAD Coordinator advocates citizens’ involvement in governance
Princess Gloria Akobundu, National Coordinator of AUDA-NEPAD
Governance
By Victoria James/Okon Okon
Abuja, Feb. 28, 2020 (NAN) The African Union Development Agency – New Partnership for Africa`s Development (AUDA-NEPAD), has advocated for citizens’ involvement in government`s activities to ensure good governance in the country.
AUDA-NEPAD’s National Coordinator, Princess Gloria Akobundu, who stated this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, Friday, said government alone could not attain good governance without citizens` involvement
Akobundu also emphasised the importance of the ongoing African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) of the Agency
APRM is an instrument voluntarily agreed to by member states of the AU, which was established 2003 by the union as an African self-monitoring mechanism.
NAN reports that APRM’s objectives are primarily to foster the adoption of policies, standards and practice that could lead to political stability, high economic growth, and sustainable development across other sectors.
Others are to accelerate sub-regional and continental economic integration through experience sharing and reinforcement of successful and best practices, including identifying deficiencies and assessment of requirements for capacity building.
According to Akobundu, one of the critical mandates of the agency in Nigeria is to facilitate economic growth, eradicate poverty and empowerment of women and youths across the country.
Achieving the aims, AUDA-NEPAD boss said synergy among citizens and stakeholders could serve as a vital instrument for the government, hence the need for frequent consultative forum with them.
She said achieving the aim of the ongoing APRM processes would be difficult if citizens were not carried along since the whole process centred on how citizens could feel the impact of government.
‘‘So helping to formulate a developmental policy that can serve as an advisory support to today`s leadership as well as tomorrow, we need all Nigerians to be involved.
‘‘Every citizen of Nigeria should partake in government as some of us have inbuilt and wealth of knowledge which could add value to governance,’’ she said.
Akobundu revealed that AUDA-NEPAD team, under the supervision of APRM secretariat, would soon embark on community consultative meeting, whereby town hall meetings would be held at local and state governments’ level to seek people’s opinions.
‘‘Every citizen of this great country is very important to this present administration and that is why under the review guideline, we are making wider consultation.
“The APRM secretariat will soon embark on local and state governments town hall meetings and we are touring the six geo-political zones of Nigeria.
“This is to ensure that what is needed to fix in the right place, let`s fix it together and that is the vision of this present administration,” she said. (NAN)
VJ/MZM/MOL/IAA
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Edited by Mustapha Lamidi/Isaac Aregbesola