FOI Bill: Social Audit without Right to Information fruitless, says Analyst
A public affairs analyst, Comrade Bolakale Saliu, has described the Kwara government’s proposed social auditing without Right to Information as an exercise in futility.
Kwara Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq had July 24 proposed a social auditing process that allows civic groups and communities to monitor government projects in the state.
AbdulRazaq, during a ZOOM meeting with the coordinator of Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENETSUD) Dr Abdullateef Alagbonsi, said the social auditing he proposes would see civic groups and communities monitoring projects and issuing independent reports that would form the basis of his government making further payments to affected contractors after the initial mobilisation fee had been paid.
However, Bolakale who spoke to our correspondent in a telephone interview defined Social Audit as the process of reviewing official records and determining whether state reported expenditures reflect the actual monies spent on the ground.
According to him, the CSOs or NGOs must possess legal right to have access to information and such information would be presented at the public hearing to measure and justify that public projects in standard and number reflect the monies spent.
