Member since 2023
Prior to CoST: Infrastructure in context
Kaduna is one of the 36 States of Nigeria, located in Northwest Nigeria, with a population of over 10 million people. The state is made up of 23 LGAs and 255 Political wards. Kaduna State prides itself as a major economic force in the country due to its strategic geographical location, natural resources, and rich history as the centre of learning in Nigeria.
The 36 States of Nigeria, including Kaduna, are interlinked with the National Government in terms of the delivery of public infrastructure. Based on the Nigerian context, infrastructure stock was estimated at 30% of GDP, well below the World Bank’s 70% benchmark, with Kaduna reflecting similar constraints. With an estimated population of over 10 million residents, Kaduna’s infrastructure needs require N20 trillion (approximately $13.8 billion USD) for core development interventions. At the end of 2021, the Kaduna State Government owed contractors over seven billion Naira (approximately $4.57 million USD). This meant that the relationship between the government and businesses was under trial. These challenges are further elaborated on in the state of infrastructure master plan, and they saw CoST providing an opportunity to improve the way the government engaged with the businesses.
Bridging this gap necessitated the Kaduna State Government to join the CoST Infrastructure Transparency Initiative. For Kaduna State, joining CoST would help rebuild trust between the Government, Private Sector, and the Civil Society Organizations through the Multi-stakeholder Group (MSG) and also support the publication of Infrastructure data to the public for meaningful engagement through an independent review process and social accountability that empowers citizens to hold duty bearers to account.
How it all began
Before joining CoST, Kaduna, as a sub-national, faced significant challenges in terms of delivering public infrastructure. This includes eroding trust among sector players, declining quality of public infrastructure, delayed payments & institutional bottlenecks, and incomplete and hard-to-understand infrastructure data. Regardless of all the challenges highlighted, the state has always shown commitment to addressing these challenges.
While the Kaduna State Government has been publishing data in the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) since 2016, there have been significant gaps in the published data from project identification to decommissioning. Such problems consist of incomplete data sets and data not published on time. With this desire, the Kaduna State Government approached CoST International at the 2019 Africa and MENA Regional Open Government Partnership (OGP) meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco. This meeting became a game changer for Kaduna, helping the delegates from government and civil society understand the CoST approach and how it could help them rebuild trust, and use of tools that would facilitate the collection of and publication of infrastructure data, adding value to the existing OCDS platform. Following the meeting, the Kaduna State Planning and Budget Commission led the engagements and drafting of an application to join CoST, which the CoST Board would later accept in May 2023.
The official launch of CoST Kaduna
The CoST Kaduna programme was launched on 1st September 2023. The Executive Governor of Kaduna State officiated the launch, His Excellency Senator Dr. Uba Sani CON, represented by the Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Her Excellency Dr Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe. She was accompanied by the Commissioner of Planning and Budget Commission, His Permanent Secretary, Director General, Kaduna State Public Procurement Authority, and members of the CoST Kaduna MSG. The official launch showed the high-level commitment of Governor Uba Sani-led administration to Infrastructure transparency and part of fulfilling his promise of nurturing citizen engagement.
The launch positioned Kaduna State as the only member of CoST in Nigeria out of 36 States and 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and a role model in transparency, accountability, and citizen participation in Nigeria.
Multi-Stakeholder Working
CoST brings together stakeholder groups with different perspectives and backgrounds from across government, the private sector, and civil society. Through each member’s Multi-Stakeholder Group, these entities can guide the delivery of CoST and pursue infrastructure transparency and accountability within a neutral forum.
The CoST Kaduna Multi-Stakeholder Group was established in mid-2023 based on the MSG Guidance Note. Championed by the Governor, the MSG is composed of representatives from the Government, Private Sector, and Civil Society. The MSG was inducted in December 2023. Driven by the commitment to open up government processes within their OGP framework, the members of the MSG have a high interest in transparency, with a conviction that CoST will help the state meet its open governance commitments in the sector.
Data publication in Kaduna
The data publication process ensures that data about the purpose, scope, costs and execution of infrastructure projects is open and accessible to the public, and that it is data is published in a timely manner.
Kaduna State Government, as part of its membership commitments, desired to open infrastructure investments to public scrutiny by publishing data on an initial 1,000 projects. Before engaging with CoST, Kaduna State had started its transparency journey by developing a portal publishing data on procurement contracts. After joining CoST, the IPDATA was upgraded to integrate the Open Contracting for Infrastructure Data Standard (OC4IDS). By June 2025, despite the development challenges faced in one year, the platform was granted an OC4IDS badge as the winner of 2025, publishing data on 1,149 projects.
Get in touch
Tara Jeremiah Wyah – CoST Kaduna Manager
kaduna@infrastructuretransparency.org
Useful Links
https://ipdata.kdsg.gov.ng/public/home
Annual Work Plan 2025 https://infrastructuretransparency.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Kaduna-annual-workplan-2025.pdf
Social media:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564569660721