We have engaged Rivers State Government through capacity building for agencies of the government, particularly, NEPAD’s Focal Point Officers and NEPAD’s Coordinators in Rivers State through their letters with Reference Nos: NEPAD/PME/01/055, NEPAD/PME/1/90 and NEPAD/ADM/3/140 in 2010 and 2012 respectively. We further engaged Delta State House of Assembly’s Committee on Finance and Budget via their letter with Reference No: DTHA/DOM/VIS/VOL.34 dated of 30th December, 2012 and with another letter dated 10th November, 2014 with Reference No: DTHA/DOM/TRA/VOL.5/016. There were also pro-poor related engagements between NDEBUMOG and Bayelsa State Ministry of Budget & Economic Planning, conveyed through their letter dated 8th April, 2015 with Reference No: MBEP/COMM/14/2015 and a correspondence from Bayelsa State House of Assembly dated 3rd November, 2014. There were also related correspondences from River State House of Assembly via a letter dated 4th November, 2014 with Reference No: RVHA/ADM/208/T.3/087 with others from Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly dated 14th April, 2015 and 10th November, 2014 with Reference No: AKHA/ADM/32/XIX/886 respectively.

It is necessary to state that Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly in early 2016 invited NDEBUMOG to the Assembly’s Public Hearing for the 2016 Budget Defence for Government Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) in Akwa Ibom State,  following the presentation of a budget proposal of N426 billion by the State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel in December, 2015. NDEBUMOG Letter was dated 4th January, 2016, with Ref No: AKHA/S/61/VOL.VI/224.

In 2011, NDEBUMOG led a team of experts, which drafted the civil society version of the Edo State Public Procurement Bill, now an Act of Parliament, following the signing of the Bill into Law by Governor Adams Oshiomhole in 2012. The assignment, which was through Environmental Rights Action, Benin City, with support from Open Society Institute for West Africa (OSIWA), provided a huge opportunity for consolidation of the efforts of the civil society for procurement discipline and best practices in the region. As of today, the Edo State Public Procurement Act has some commendable clauses, derived from the civil society version, developed by a team of experts led by NDEBUMOG. Such clauses include: Edo State Procurement Report to Citizens’; Need Analysis; Civil Society Monitoring and Observation of the Bidding Processes in Edo State with legal force, community inclusion, membership of civil society in the Board etc.

 Before the formal presentation of the Bayelsa State Public Procurement Bill (now an Act) to the Bayelsa State House of Assembly under the Governorship of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (who later ruled Nigeria as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria), the then Bayelsa State Government in collaboration with the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit (BMPIU), now BPP, conducted a Pilot Training on “Procurement Due Process for Senior Civil Servants in Bayelsa State” at the Sport Complex-Yenagoa. NDEBUMOG was the only Civil Society Organization invited to deliver a paper to the Senior Officials of the Bayelsa State Government at sharing capacity for the take-off of the Due Process mechanism in the State, which came into effect with the signing of the Bayelsa State Public Procurement Act into Law, by Governor Timipre Silva on the 17^th of June, 2009, with a recommendation made by NDEBUMOG at that pilot training (captured in Section 28 of the Bayelsa State Public Procurement Act) for Community End-User Inclusion.

Under our partnership with the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs (OSSAP-MDGs), we collaborated with OSSAP-MDGs, together with the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) to conduct a workshop on Budgeting for MDGs in the Niger Delta, in partnership with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI). The event took place at Calabar, Cross River State. All MDGs Line Ministries across the six South-South States in the Niger Delta were invited and they participated. This (MDGs line pro-poor) workshop ventilated a latter collaboration between Bayelsa and Cross River State government, leading to capacity sharing between the two states for the implementation of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) in Bayelsa State. This was during the era of Hon. Imbasi as the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning in Bayelsa State.

 In collaboration with the Bayelsa State Non-Governmental Organizations Forum (BANGOF), we were engaged for strengthening capacity of civil society stakeholders in Bayelsa State for the engagement of BEITI Bill, now an Act of Parliament in Bayelsa State.