FOI; We are committed to transparency and accountability - Kwara Speaker

FOI; We are committed to transparency and accountability - Kwara Speaker

The Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Salihu Yakubu Danladi has reiterated the commitment of the 9th Kwara Assembly to transparency and accountability in governance of the State, a position he said the parliament under his watch will not rescind or compromise.

The legislator disclosed this while receiving the Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), a Kwara based Civil Society Organization and the sponsors of the Kwara State Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill.

L-R:

Comrade Adisah Jaji Azeez (ENetSuD Director of Investigation and Public Petition, Kwara Central); Hon. Mogaji Olawoyin (KWHA Leader representing Magaji ngeri constituency of Ilorin West); Comrade Lanre Osho (ENetSuD Assistant Secretary); Hon. Abdullahi Danbaba (representing Kaiama/Kemanji/Wajibe constituency); Rt. Hon. Salihu Yakubu Danladi (Speaker, KWHA); Mr. Sideeq Bola Mustapha (ENetSuD Deputy Coordinator, Special Duties); Engr. Abdulkareem Kamil (ENetSuD Technical and Evaluation Committee member); and Mr. Saeed Tijjani ST (Chairman of Volunteers Wing, ENetSuD Publicity Committee).

Reacting to why the FOI Bill is yet to be transmitted back to the Executive Governor, the Speaker said, he is aware of ENetSuD activities and appreciate their efforts in following Kwara money. I see your graphics designs, we are not deaf to your yearnings, we won't disappoint you and I assure you we will leave a legacy that the youth constituency would be proud of.

“This government meant well and committed to the development of Kwara State. I come from a rural area and can't go back home if after four (4) years, we leave them the way they were. No one is following Kwara money more than the 9th Kwara Assembly. You can all see how diligent we have been investigating how our common patrimonies have been spent over the years”, he said.

“It is not about the number of days the FOI Bill spends here, but the quality of the output at the end. Yes, the Governor recommended some amendment, but as diligent legislators, we are not limited to do just that, you will call us rubber stamps, if we do otherwise. We must scrutinize and make our own inputs to ensure the Bill serve the people of Kwara better. The House Committee on Youth, Sport and Information is competent to handle the job and working on it, scrutinizing it clause by clause and at the end, we will all be glad.”

The Lawmaker revealed that the 9th Assembly is currently expecting the 2020 proposed appropriation from the Executive and that is the focus for now, this he said is in pursuit of sustaining the January-December Budget Cycle, which Kwara is known for. He however assured that the FOI Bill will see the light of the day, because he is aware of its significance. He therefore calls for stronger synergy and support of the CSO for the realization of a greater and prosperous Kwara state.

In their respective remarks, Sodiq Bola and Lanre Osho, Deputy Coordinator and Assistant General Secretary of the Organization, said the apolitical CSO came to congratulate the Hon. Speaker, expresses solidarity and applaud the 9th Assembly strides to better the lots of Kwarans, and to specifically to ask why the amendment of the FOI as recommended by His Excellency, Governor AbdlRahman AbdulRazaq is yet to be done.

Bola said it is the organization’s wish to entrench transparency and accountability in the polity, promote good governance in Kwara state and not to blackmail the government. He said the Organization is only willing to assist government to be open to the people, recounting #BringBackOurTractor advocacy against Hon. Zakari Mohammed, which compelled the former federal legislator to return 2 tractors facilitated by him through Nigeria Centre Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM) for his constituency, as one of their milestones

Ibrahim Sheriff .A.,
S. A., Media to the Speaker, 
Kwara State House of Assembly