SCDDD engages Kano non-state actors on open, accountable governance

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The Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development (SCDDD), with support from MacArthur Foundation and as part of its Leadership Effectiveness and Accountability Dialogue (LEAD) project on Monday hosted a townhall meeting with critical non-state actors and stakeholders aimed at promoting open and accountable governance in Kano state.

LEAD is a political accountability and open governance project designed by SCDDD to re-conscientise, educate and ultimately, re-skill the aptitude of critical political influencers and stakeholders towards promoting open and accountable governance through active promotion of good governance in Nigeria.

In his welcome address at the townhall, SCDDD’s executive director, Ambassador Abdullahi Omaki, said: “It is the hope of Savannah Centre that this interactive session in Kano, will help in the promotion of the spirit of partnership and collaboration between the citizenry and government to achieve the objectives of transparent and accountable governance across the nation. It is our hope that through these interactive sessions, the Centre would be able to establish concrete platforms to undertake the task of creating awareness that will ultimately lead to productive partnership between the citizenry and leadership so as to achieve a win-win situation for all,” he said.

While speaking on fostering citizen-government collaborations, Prof Oshita Oshita, executive director, Ubuntu Center for Africa Peacebuilding and Development (UCAP) said: “We should strengthen our communities to be inclusive; by reclaiming communities from decisive politics because some communities are now so divided along political lines. Participatory and inclusive community empowerment and development will go a long way in fostering collaboration for peacebuilding. Conflict-sensitive perspectives are needed to prevent deepening political exclusion.”

Dr Rukayya Yusuf Aliyu  of the department of information and media studies at Bayero University, Kano while speaking on freedom of information and media as tools for accountable governance in Nigeria said democracy would not thrive without effective and efficient media institutions. “No democracy can be termed efficient without freedom of information in the society. It is only when there is free flow of information that good governance can be achieved and the media must stand up to the responsibility of holding the government accountable because no meaningful development can be achieved without a robust and efficient media institution,” she said.