Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq before and after assumption of office last year made noise about his resolve to change the narrative as far as transparency and probity is concerned. But more than a year down the line, stakeholders and political players argued that the situation has remained a far cry from that promise. ACTING EDITOR, MUMINI ABDULKAREEM writes on the issue.
It was during one of his campaigns that the then governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who was later elected governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq made a pact with Kwarans as regards his style of governance if eventually elected promising that he will run a very open and transparent government.
According to Abdulrazaq while having a stopover during his campaign tours of Ilorin South and Ilorin East local governments, “I will run a transparent government in Kwara”, once elected.
“We won’t divert your fund. We will serve your interest and restore our community values”, the then APC gubernatorial candidate added.
However, few years after that undertaken, that treaty appears to be assuming what many of the governor’s critics have come to tag as “audio promise” and a sharp contradiction from the reality on ground.
After their initial slow temple during the early days of this administration, civil societies, groups, human right associations and other stakeholders have accelerated their motions with allegations that governance under Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq after the election is being operated like a cult especially on the issues of transparency and accountability in financial matters. Although the government argued that such accusation was not a true reflection of the reality on ground, there appears a disconnect between the import of such statement and the true situation of things?
It was the civil societies in the state that first raised the alarm over the secrecy and occultist manner that the finances of the state were being handed following the non passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. About two years into the debate, the situation on the issue of the FOI still remains the same. Rather than doing the needful on the FOI passage which appeared to have been “stalled” by the state legislature, the governor came up with a social audit process inviting the civil societies to use such instruments to monitor projects and spendings that have been approved by the government.
While the dust on the issue of the non passage of the FOI is still yet to settle, a former Commissioner of Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs and Community Development, Hajia Aisha Ahman-Pategi dropped another bombshell with the accusation that over N300m was being withdrawn from the coffers of the local government by her counterpart and the Commissioner for Finance, Mrs Oyeyemi Olasumbo. A defence by the government through the incumbent commissioner of the ministry, Architect Saifudeen Mohammed further led to an audacious challenge by the “Super Commissioner” as Aisha was being referred to for the government to “shame the devil” and do the needful by publishing it monthly financial transactions in line with its mantra.
Apparently in trying to respond to Aisha’s daring challenge, the government on August 11th, 2020, set up a committee to investigate the matter and said it has further invited the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to unravel the mysteries plaguing the finances of the state. Although the EFCC involvement in the issue is still shrouded in secrecy as nothing appears to have come out several months after the invitation and the state and national offices have continue to sing discordant tones over the issue, the report of the government committee has however given opponents and critics more gasoline to roast the Governor and proponents of his supposed mantra of transparency and accountability.
The eight-member panel which was chaired by retired Justice Matthew Adewara had Barrister S.K Grillo as Secretary. Other members are Mrs Halimah Bello (DSS); Mrs Titilayo Adedeji (CSOs); Barrister Aisha Bello Mohammed (NBA); DSP Adekunle Iwalaiye (police); Mohammed Baba Ibrahim (ICAN) and Alhaja Asmau Apalando (NLC).
According to the committee’s report released by the government through a statement with the headline “No evidence Kwara LG funds were diverted”, the government was urged to ensure “monthly publication of the total wage bill, IGR and expenditure at the state and local government levels.
“This, we are sure, would guarantee accountability and transparency which will enrich the integrity of the government in the minds of the people; thereby preventing future reoccurrence of doubt, allegation of financial misappropriation emanating from the people against government”, the report added.
Now has the government heeded this advice coming surprisingly from its own internal committee which appears to be in sync with the complaints and agitation emanating from the opposite end of the spectrum for monthly publication of its finances? What is the situation on ground now and what is the perception of the civil societies and groups on issue of transparency and accountability.
It however appears that Kwarans, except the vuvuzuelas of the Governor, are not on the same page with Abdulrasaq on this. According to an opinion poll by an online news medium, The Informant247, the citizens scored the government low on issue of transparency and accountability.
“The response of the respondents on good governance was presented as follows: Rule of law (satisfactory-26.4%, fair-26.9%, unsatisfactory-46.2%); responsiveness (satisfactory-41.5%, fair-26.7%, unsatisfactory-31.8%); Transparency (satisfactory-28.4%, fair-16.2%, unsatisfactory-55.3%); Consensus Oriented (satisfactory-26.4%, fair-26.9%, unsatisfactory-46.7%); Accountability (satisfactory-31%, fair-16.8%, unsatisfactory-52%) ;Participation (satisfactory-34.5%, fair-19.3%, unsatisfactory-46.2%). The statistical results grossly marked the administration down in the area of ‘Transparency’ and ‘Accountability’. The respondents alleged the administration of ruling secretly, “We voted for him to see change but when it’s comes to transparency and accountability it’s unsatisfactory. We don’t know what is coming from KWIRS or Harmony Holdings or the monthly statutory allocation”, the report quoted.
Reacting to the issue, the Coordinator of the Kwara Stakeholders Forum, Barrister Ayanshola Mohammed noted that the citizens of the state are in the dark on what is being generated, received and expended by the government despite the promise of openness and accountability in governance during inauguration last year.
He said the government’s style to lump quarterly finances together is a clear departure from the monthly updates of the past government on issues of JAAC, KWIRS among others adding that the situation calls for concern. “The governor sacked the Local government chairmen and replaced them with DPMs, the KWIRS reports to him unlike in the past when there were monthly briefings on the status of amount generated, expended and projected. Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq is just running the state like a sole administrator”, Ayanshola, a former lawmaker added.
Similarly, a civil right group, Brian Builders Development Initiative (BBDI) said the Government needs to do more as it is not meeting up to expectation of Kwarans as far as transparency and accountability is concerned.
BBDI Coordinator, Olasupo Abideen told National Pilot during a telephone chat that “There is nothing special that this government is doing especially in the aspect of availing the public the quarterly financial reports. If you go back to the Kwara State Government Website during the administration of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, those in charge gave us the data base of different things that were posted. So we have always had publication of their spendings unlike now that we are told they are designing website. Publicising spendings is not special, it has been done before. It was late for KWIRS under this government to be given us the quarterly revenue which was a monthly affair during the last administration. Transparency has gone beyond putting things on the websites. If anything, we should give kudos to the last administration for ensuring transparency and accountability to some extent which this government now relied on to access the World Bank grant.
“You need to make papers available to the public and we have at different times written FOI request and I know of two other CSOs that have done same and nothing has come out of it. Why are they afraid to open their books to the public if they have nothing to hide?
“Now, I have just noticed that the numbers the lawmakers gave as cash donations for Covid-19 was different from what different organisations monitored. We did our computation at BBDI, I know other CSOs like Connected Development and ENetSuD also did theirs which appears not to tally with the figures brought by the government. We give them the benefit of doubt to make clarifications. At different times and across different WhatsApp platforms, I have challenged the government to put figures around the donation of the teachers, Permanent Secretaries and others which are vague to us now. Up till now, we don’t know exactly how much the governor receives as salary. Even the budget that was posted on website lacked detailed analysis of awarded contracts. The government is trying we understand but they can do better because from my own prism, they are not meeting up to expectation as far as transparency and accountability is concerned”, Abideen added.
In his reaction, the Kwara State Coordinator of Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), Dr Abdullateef Alagbonsi who had earlier in the year lamented the failure of the government to explain request of its spending for three months, said the government is many miles behind breasting the tape on the issue of transparency and accountability.
Kwara, he told National Pilot during a telephone chat on issue still has some miles to cover in the area of transparency and accountability. “I think it is the preferred style of the present administration (which is not as good as the monthly practice of the past administration) for quarterly financial updates. I hope the present administration will soon revert to the monthly disclosure of state finances in order to sustain regular dissemination of revenue-related information to the public.
“Why I will say there is an improvement in the area of transparency and accountability, with the introduction and implementation of Social Audit by the present administration… it is our hope for the Assembly to pass the FOI bill so that we can have it in addition to the Social Audit, both of which will promote transparency and accountability in public fund spending but through different mechanisms”, the civil activist added.
Recently, in a bid to convince the citizens of operating a transparent administration especially on issue of finance, the governor wrote to the state legislature informing them of the availability of over N243m realised as part of the Covid-19 assistance from donors and the federal government to manage the pandemic. It went further to seek approval to be allowed to use the money to purchase medical equipment and build molecular refineries. But groups like the Stakeholder’s Forum accused the government of deliberate refusal to disclose over N2bn allegedly received from the federal government and World Bank as additional fund to manage the disease which Kogi Governor, Yahaya Bello attested to. The group said it was after its comment that the government admitted receiving the federal government grant.
