Transparency: AbdulRazaq’s silence on FOI bill worries CSO
A Kwara based civil society organization, Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), is bothered by the state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s continued silence on the Freedom of Information act bill, THE INFORMANT247 has learnt.
The Organization’s coordinator, Dr. Abdullateef Alagbonsi, described the governor’s inaction as “worrisome”.
Speaking with the governor during a virtual meeting on Monday, Alagbonsi raised the concern that the bill is yet to be attended to 11 months after the amendment.
He said, “The only area I’ll like to empathize, having had this opportunity to discuss with His Excellency, is particularly on the area of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill. ENetSuD, being the major sponsor of the FOI bill, will still like to commend the Executive Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, for his position on the bill”.
The bill which was passed by the 8th Assembly at the tale end of it tenure was amended to carry more stiffer penalty by the new governor and transmitted back to the 9th Assembly which has failed to take action on the new inputs.
While commending the governor, Alagbonsi said AbdulRazaq should have reminded the house on the bill instead of remaining silent for about 11 months.
He said, “I believe there is no need to remind His Excellency on the importance of Freedom of Information. We have been using FOI to track how public funds are spent by the Federal Government. We have been tracking Federal Government projects since 2017. We have dragged many MDAs to Court. We have dragged many MDAs to EFCC and ICPC under the past administration.”
