By Abdulwahab Tajudeen
No doubt, His Excellency, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has taken the bull by its horn since his ascension to power last year circa May. He is the talk of the town and the new face of Kwara. Some named him “Oluomo of Kwara”, while others chose to call him “Aduagba of Ilorin”. Either way, one thing that is obvious is that the new Sheriff is working diligently in delivering good governance to all Kwarans.
We can’t have it all. Yes! But this administration is committing a blunder where there shouldn’t be any. And if any, it should be tackled with all manpower.
Effective and timely communication, no doubt, is one of the reasons Kwarans won’t forget the role of Dr Muideen Akorede in Megida led administration. Akorede, as the mouthpiece of the administration, could go to any length in defending his paymaster and convincingly convince Kwarans of the reason(s) they should accept his submission. Government of the day should take into consideration the accuracy and timeliness of Akorede responses to sundry issues.
Perhaps you will want to say all governments have their way and style of rule. But remember effective and timely communication with the masses can strengthen their trust in the government. The masses shouldn’t be left in awry or in the dark. Rather they should be fed timely with information that has to do with the operations of the administration.
On three instances if I’m not mistaken, Kwara State Government has come so late in giving the masses accurate and timely information –the FOI bill, the misappropriation allegations and the ₦2.2billion balance stated in the state 2020 Budget Proposal which I raised questions about in my last opinion to the state government which is yet to be addressed till today.
In the news recently is the DMO and Kwara State Government. Nigeria’s Debt Management Office reported an increase of ₦1.8billion in 3 months which led to the rise in total debt profile to ₦63.1billion in September 2019.
The debt is believed to have reduced if the state is actually paying ₦600million monthly from the state allocation.
It has been denounced by the state government that the rise in the debt is as a result of under-reporting of the debt profile. The ₦61,335,531,821.69 to ₦63,177,349,538.89 was the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) obtained by the last administration which was never declared until the quarter of 2019.
As simple and straightforward the press statement from the state government is, the effect of not giving it out as and when due is a mistrust. The government should, at all times, have the masses by its side with timely information that would enhance the trust and transparency between the duo.
It is advisable that Kwara State Government look inwardly towards effective and timely communication so as to avoid further occurrence of similar issue.
Remember, if you don’t provide the needed information for the masses, they would dig and you may not like the much they dig to get information.
Writer | Bibliophile | Advocacy – Education, Good Governance | Columnist @TheInformant247 | Publisher @NSJ.NG
DISCLAIMER: views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect THE INFORMANT247’s editorial stance.
