Be ready to account for your spending now, ENetSuD tells Kwara Govt

…lauds Supreme Court for terminating conspiracy of KWSG and KWHA

By AYOBAMI OMOLE-IYAGIN

The Elites Network for Sustainable Development, ENetSuD, an anti-corruption Civil Society Organization in Kwara State, has advised the Kwara State Government, KWSG, to account for all its past, current, and future expenditures under the Freedom of Information, FOI, Act 2011 or, face legal actions.

This was a reaction from the ENetSuD Coordinator, Prof Alagbonsi Abdullateef, to the latest Supreme Court Judgment which held that the FOI Act applies to, and binding on all tiers of Government in the Nigerian Federation.

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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.

This KWSG position led ENetSuD to pursue the domestication of the Act in the State, which AbdulRahman-led KWSG and Danladi-led KWHA have conspiratorially killed for about 6 years.

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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.

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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 CSO said that 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.

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