The South East Governors’ Forum in collaboration with the DFID funded Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) on August 14 and 15, 2018 held an experience sharing session on the Anambra State model of Community Charter of Demand (CCD) in other South East states.

The event which held in Owerri, Imo State, had in attendance top government officials, including commissioners, Special Advisers, Permanent Secretaries, and Directors from the five South East states (Imo, Enugu, Anambra, Abia and Ebonyi).

CCD is a governance tool widely adopted to demand for good governance. In Nigeria, CCD has been adopted in Anambra and Kaduna State. It is a document that lists the development needs of the community in order of priority. It is developed with input from all community groups and presented to the state government to be included in the state budget with the goal of better and more inclusive service delivery.

While stating the objective of the experience sharing event, the Deputy Director General of the South East Governors’ Forum (SEGF) Secretariat, Mr. Romson Udoh said the event was put together to drive some key development principles such as CCD and participatory governance in the region. “All states will be going home with a reviewed CCD process that would be a common denominator in budgetary practice in the South East. We have come to learn something that will make the difference in service delivery and good governance delivery in our states”, said SEGF’s Deputy Director General. 

The South East Governors’ Forum Secretariat has the mandate to serve as a key knowledge hub to drive good governance and best practices that would accelerate development in the South East.

In her speech, the DFID Regional Coordinator for the South East and South South, represented by Ijeoma Chukwuemeka, congratulated Enugu, Imo, Anambra and Ebonyi states for signing up to the Open Government Partnership. She expressed DFID’s willingness to work with the states in attendance through its programmes in Nigeria. 

According to her, while DFID may not be present in every state in Nigeria, it encourages replication of good practices in the regions. “That is why we are gathered here today to learn from Anambra State on the success of implementation of the Community Charter of Demand, which is also implemented in Kaduna State and in Enugu State, with a different name known as ‘visit every community’.”

Ijeoma was optimistic that the knowledge being shared would go a long way to put smiles on the faces of the people through improved citizens engagement and participation in governance.

On the prospect of implementing CCD in Ebonyi state, the Commissioner of Finance and Economic Development, Ebonyi State, Dr Obinna Nwachukwu, whose office has the mandate to coordinate in the absence of a Ministry of Budget and Planning, said he would brief his principal, who is also the Chairman of the South East Governors' Forum, and every other stakeholder in his state to ensure that the CCD template developed during the experience sharing event is adopted in Ebonyi State.

Dr Obinna also expressed the need for other South East states to adopt CCD. He said, “We want a situation whereby the entire states in the South East will be speaking with one voice and doing the same thing so that our communities are carried along”. “CCD helps the government to give what the communities want rather than what the government wishes to give them,” he added.