A civil society organisation named The People’s Voice Advocacy Network has chided the Kwara State Government led by Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq for running the state affair in secrecy while denying the citizenry of their rights to timely information.
This was contained in a statement by the group’s Assistant Publicity Secretary, Comrade Olaitan Abdulraheem.
Read the full press release below:
Our attention has been drawn to the incommunicado behaviour of the Kwara State Government on the receipt of a total sum of N6.84 billion as 2018 grant under World Bank Assisted Programmes. This reoccurring attitude of the state government going on silent mode on matters that have to do with public trust is becoming unacceptable and it must stop henceforth.
In lieu of the above, we wish to establish these following facts:
1. That Kwara State Government received a total sum of N6.84 billion through the Federal Government as performance-based grants for the year 2018. This revelation came to the public through the news broadcast aired by Channels TV and press statements issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
2. That Kwara State Government, again, failed in her public responsibility to communicate its receipts to the people of the state despite the open revelation coming from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
3. This incommunicado attitude of the Kwara State Government led by Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq on public trust can be referred to governance in secrecy. And the governnor needs to be told that there is huge difference between the Private sector and Public Sector and a need for him to strike a balance. Perhaps one of the main reasons the state government led by His Excellency is yet to deem it necessary, despite the calls from many civil society organisations, to domesticate the Freedom of Information Bill (FoI Bill) in the state with the intention to disconnect the governed from sensitive information like this.
4. The present administration in the state is known for lacking transparency and accountability in almost all facets of governance. The only time the state government usually make disclosure is when the state is receiving recovered funds directly from EFCC. That is because the state government knows that failure to disclose its receipt, EFCC will definitely not hesitate do so. Hitherto, the information on the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for each month is still in the dark due to the refusal of the concerned MDAs to officially disclose it. That been said, another attitude of secrecy of this present administration is the way of approving execution of projects without stating the monetary value for the so-called projects. Though, this lack of transparency attitude can be halted when domestication of the FOI bill that has gathered enough dust on the table of the 8th Kwara State House Assembly finally gets the blessing of the governor.
5. It is quite saddening that transparency and accountability have long lost their dictionary meaning on account of the ‘hide and seek’ governance attitude displayed by the elected public officers in Kwara State.
6. Today, Kwara State is a proud beneficiary of this grant due to the performance of the past administration led by Alhaji Abdulfatai Ahmed. Even Lagos State is nowhere to be found in this category. This is a leadership lesson that the incumbent Executive Governor, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq should also strive hard towards making the state a beneficiary in the years to come just like his predecessor has rightly done.
7. We also want to remind Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq that governance everywhere in the world is a continnum and Kwara State will not be an exception to this. We believe that any governor who is bold to go public and chide the past administration for bringing liabilities to the state should not be ashamed of going to public to praise his predecessor for bringing forth such an asset as worth N6.84 billion. Not to even mention the great impact the creation of Kwara State Internal Revenue (KWIR) has contributed to the performance appraisal. Another loud applaud the incumbent governor must give to his predecessor, if there is any atom of conscience left in this present administration.
9. Finally, we plead that the state government should set aside a larger part of this grant to pay, at least, two months salary arrears of both local Government and SUBEB TEACHERS because the two categories are one of the biggest liabilities inherited from the immediate past administration. While the remaining part can be diverted to arrest the negative impact COVID-19 has brought to Kwarans.
8. Thank you.
Signed:
Comrade Olaitan Abdulraheem
Assistant Publicity Secretary
The People’s Voice Advocacy Network
