Today, Tara Jeremiah Wyah, Senior Planning Officer, Planning and Budget Commission, Kaduna State, Government, Nigeria, and CoST Kaduna Manager, spoke about the role of the CoST approach in Kaduna’s new infrastructure portal. 

The event, titled “Leveraging Online Platforms to Strengthen Data Transparency and Combat Corruption,” explored how governments can use online platforms to fight corruption and increase transparency. During this event with 40+ people in attendance, Tara covered: 

• why open data is a priority in Kaduna, including existing challenges the state has had, and joining as the first subnational member in Nigeria; 
• the incorporation of CoST tools and standards into Kaduna’s State Action Plan Commitment; 
• the steps they took to create their data portal, prioritising a user-centred experience, supported by CoST; 
• how they engaged the private sector, public officials, media, and civil society , including through training; 
• successes, such as publishing data on over 1000 projects, creating a dedicated space to support data publication and working with the private sector to address sector challenges; 
• examples of infrastructure portals from CoST members Sekondi Takoradi, Ghana; Jalisco, Mexico; and Thailand. 

CoST’s long-standing relationship with Open Government Partnership has gone from strength to strength this month, including CoST participation at OGP Global Summit events, CoST members receiving OGP honourable mentions, and the launch of the CoST and Open Government Partnership Guidance Note. 

This OGP Local Anti-Corruption Learning Circle, in partnership with the National Democratic Institute (NDI), gave participants the opportunity to learn how open data and dashboards are helping governments engage citizens, prevent corruption, and build trust.

Other speakers included representatives from Open Data Charter, Primăria Municipiului Timișoara, and Peñalolén.