The Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), an anti-corruption Civil Society Organization (CSO) in Kwara State at the weekend lauded the Supreme Court’s ruling that extended Freedom of Information Act to the 36 states of the federation and 774 local government councils in the country.
A statement issued in Ilorin and signed by the ENetSuD Coordinator, Prof. Alagbonsi Abdullateef, however called on the state government to be prepared to account for all its past, current, and future expenditures under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2011 or be ready to always face legal actions.
ENetSuD expressed its difficulties in tracking projects executed by the successive KWSG due to the government’s position that KWSG is not obliged to obey the FOI Act as it needs to domesticate the Act in the state.
The statement said: “This KWSG position led ENetSuD to pursue the domestication of the Act in the State, which Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq-led KWSG and Danladi-led KWHA have conspiratorially killed for about 6 years.”
“Now, we are very glad that the Supreme Court has terminated the conspiracy between the KWSG and the KWHA in the last 6 years.”
“The KWHA failed to make the minor amendment to the already-passed bill before the governor could assent to it, and the KWSG also failed to question the KWHA for not completing the minor amendment requested by the governor.
“This conspiracy succeeded for 6 years because it was a calculated attempt to prevent open governance, transparency, and accountability from the KWSG to Kwarans”.
ENetSuD re-emphasized that its previous agreement with the KWSG in July 2020 to introduce social audit of government projects was not a replacement for the FOI Law it championed in the state, as access to information through the FOI Act / Law is not the only way of promoting transparency and accountability on government projects execution.
The agency said: “Even with the applicability of the FOI Act to Kwara state as pronounced by the Supreme Court, it would still welcome additional transparency and accountability measures that the KWSG may wish to introduce in the future in the public interest.”
“Finally, ENetSuD calls on Kwarans to take advantage of the new direction from the Supreme Court to always ask questions from the KWSG and the 16 Local Government Councils on how all public funds are spent by those entrusted with our patrimony”.
