The Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly, 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.
Reacting to why the FOI Bill is yet to be transmitted back to Governor
Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, the Speaker said, he is aware of ENetSuD
activities and appreciate their efforts in following Kwara money
adding that they have not abandon the bill.
“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. 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”,
he noted.
He however assured that the FOI Bill will see the light of the day,
because he is aware of its significance and called for stronger
synergy and support of the CSO for the realization of a greater and
prosperous Kwara state.
In their separate remarks, Sodiq Bola and Lanre Osho, Deputy
Coordinator and Assistant General Secretary of the organization, said
the group came to specifically ask , among others, why the amendment
of the FOI as recommended by the Governor 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.
