A civil society organisation has concluded training workshop on Open Government Partnership, OGP for media practitioners including journalists, publishers/editors of online news outfits, bloggers, broadcasters across the country NEGROIDHAVEN can report.
The 2-day event which held between 20th and 21st April in Calabar the Cross River state capital metropolis was facilitated by African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD) being sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation.
The workshop concentrated on what the OGP is, role of the media in the OGP process, overview of Nigeria’s national action plan, OGP Nigeria governance and management/coordination framework, role of subnational entities in the OGP process, and use of the OGP to promote and ensure media freedom.
According to the facilitators, the press has an important role to play within the context of the OGP. It was stressed by Mr Edetaen Ojo an erstwhile Co-chair of the OGP in Nigeria that ‘since the OGP values revolves around government transparency, accountability, citizen participation and technology/innovation, the Nigerian press can use the OGP as a framework to hold government officials, and ministries/departments/agencies accountable’. 
The executive director of Centre LSD, Mr Monday Osasah, on his part, observed that Nigerian journalists can monitor the objectives of the thematic areas of the OGP’s national action plan in the country. He said that ‘journalists can seek answers of details in Nigeria’s commitment to the ideals of the Open Government Partnership’.
