BPSR harps on
BPSR harps on citizens engagement for nation building,
good governance
The Director General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms
(BPSR), Mr. Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, has underscored the need to
develop a sustainable framework for citizens engagement with
government towards nation building, while entrenching good
governance in the polity.
According to him, the transformation that has taken place all
over the world, along with recent global crises, signal the need
for a new balance between the masses and democracy, between the
public and private interests, and between freedom in the private
sphere and common responsibility in the collective sphere.
“A new balance that requires, new insights and synergetic
working relationship between government and citizens,” he said.
Mr. Arabi, in his opening remark at the November edition of the
Bureau’s lunch-time reform seminar in Abuja, maintained that
achieving collective results require a strong institutional
capacity to provide the necessary checks and balances to exercise
power, to propose laws and ensure their enforcement, to encourage
social justice, and to guarantee the efficient use of public funds
and the accountability of office holders.
The seminar was themed: “The Imperative of Developing a
Sustainable Framework for Citizens Engagement with Government
towards Nation Building.”
He explained that the increasing number of public policy issues
require the active contribution of citizens as users, value
creators or active agents of change to achieve desired public
results towards nation building.
He said governments achieve results by working through vast
networks of actors and institutions, including citizens and civil
society groups, who have a stake in achieving common policy
outcomes.
The BPSR Director General, said: “In the present democratic
setting, public sector institutions are expected to live up to the
ideal of democratic principles and to advance civic results, which
they do in many ways. They allow their oversight by a legislative
assembly, ensure that holders of public office are accountable for
the exercise of power, provide for transparency, ensure access to
information, and encourage participation in the policy cycle to
ensure greater buy-in and support for government initiatives.”
Arabi, stressed that citizens play a critical role in advocating
and helping to make public institutions more transparent,
accountable and effective, and contributing innovative solutions to
complex development challenges.
He added that the international community is recognizing the
vital importance of engaging citizens with strong growth of the
Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the active discussion of
citizens engagement within the sustainable development goals
process.