This action plan document represents Gombe State’s first Open Government Partnership (OGP) State Action Plan (SAP I), setting a transformative path for inclusive, transparent, and accountable governance from 2024 to 2026. Officially joining the global OGP platform in July 2022, Gombe State developed this ambitious plan through a co-creation process involving government agencies, civil society organizations, traditional and religious leaders, the private sector, and development partners. The SAP I reaffirms the administration’s strong political will to institutionalize open governance and enhance citizen participation at every level.
The SAP is anchored on three thematic pillars: Fiscal Transparency, Service Delivery, and Citizens’ Engagement. Each area contains specific commitments designed to address long-standing governance challenges while ensuring measurable improvements in public trust, inclusion, and service delivery outcomes.
Under Fiscal Transparency, the plan emphasizes the operationalization of e-procurement systems and the adoption of open contracting standards. This includes publishing procurement plans, creating feedback-enabled online platforms, holding quarterly stakeholders' reviews, and training local government fiscal transparency champions. These efforts aim to reduce corruption, ensure accountability, and increase public access to government procurement information.
In the Service Delivery pillar, the plan focuses on strengthening social protection systems to better serve vulnerable populations. It calls for harmonizing poverty alleviation programs, improving data quality, building institutional capacity, and enhancing economic resilience. Inclusive approaches target women, youth, persons with disabilities, and rural communities—ensuring that no one is left behind.
The Citizens’ Engagement pillar seeks to improve participatory budgeting processes by facilitating town hall meetings, traditional and religious advocacy campaigns, digital awareness tools, and quarterly feedback sessions. Through this, citizens will gain greater access to, and involvement in, the state’s budget cycle—from planning and proposal to execution and review.
A multi-stakeholder State Steering Committee (SSC) co-chaired by both government and non-state actors ensures effective implementation. The plan also outlines a governance framework involving an OGP Secretariat, Technical Working Groups, and mechanisms for monitoring, evaluation, innovation, and strategic communication. These structures aim to embed OGP principles into existing systems and link the SAP to the broader Gombe State 10-Year Development Plan (DEVAGOM 2020–2030).
This first OGP action plan positions Gombe State as a model for subnational open governance in Nigeria, setting in motion a bold effort to build trust, improve accountability, and deliver better public services in a sustainable and inclusive way.
