African Peer Review Harps on Good Governance

Abdullahi Tasiu Abubakar (Daily Trust)-The African Peer Review Mechanism is holding a two-day conference in Yola, Adamawa State capital, on Nigeria’s assessment report and to gather new inputs for the promotion of good governance in the country.

Opening the meeting at the Women Development Centre in the city, Governor Murtala Nyako who was represented by Deputy Governor Bala Ngilari said the body is an inward-looking mechanism designed not to please external benefactors but to encourage the culture of accountability.

“This initiative by African leaders is borne out of the fact that the continent has suffered deprivation in many ways which cumulative effects are poverty and underdevelopment as a result of bad governance,” he added.

The governor said his administration supports the underlying principles of the peer review mechanism which he said focused on political and democratic governance, economic governance and management, corporate governance and socio-economic development.

“The understanding is that if these areas are meticulously addressed, (they) would lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated sub-regional and continental economic integration,” he added.

The Secretary to State Government, Mr John Manasa, had told participants that those in government should be blamed for the lapses in the articulation and dissemination of government programmes to the public.

On his part, the chairman of the occasion, Professor Lawal Alhassan Bichi, who is also the Director of Academic Standard in the National Universities Commission (NUC), said there was need to always implement agreements reached between countries and international bodies.

He expressed concern that, of the 300 agreements signed by NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development) and other nations, none have so far been fully implemented.

The African Peer Review Mechanism, the secretariat said, is a flagship programme of NEPAD for “fostering good governance in African countries.”

It said the mechanism “is a catalyst for advancing reforms in governance and socio-economic development and for building capacity in the African continent”.

Representatives of professional groups, trade unions, non-governmental organisations and civil rights groups were at the meeting deliberating on various issues related to economic development and good governance.

<< Back to main