Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), a Kwara-based Civil Society Organization, has envisaged that the new year 2020 will #OpenKwara with the Freedom of Information Law that is being expected to be enacted in the state.

In the new year message signed by its Coordinator, Dr. Alagbonsi Abdullateef, ENetSuD said that Kwara State has been in total darkness on how taxpayers’ money has been spent by successive administrations in the state.

“Successive administrations of Kwara State Government have put Kwarans in total darkness on governance issues, especially on how public funds are spent. What successive governments have called Transparency and Accountability is publishing of budgets in the public domain as if budget translates to how the money budgeted have been spent. Transparency, Accountability and Open Governance do not end with that, but it goes as far as giving citizens the right to ask questions and have access to information on how the monies budgeted have been spent to the last kobo by the government without any stress,” ENetSuD said.

It added that Freedom of Information Law is “the panacea to the chronic secret governance that Kwara State has witnessed for a long time.”

“The best way Kwara governance can be opened is by having a Freedom of Information Law that will empower citizens to ask questions on how public funds are spent. The law will help government to keep appropriate records of incomes and expenditures, promote citizens’ trust for government, make government more responsible, reduce fake news and exaggeration on projects’ costs and execution details, prevent diversion of public funds, strengthen citizens’ capacity to #FollowKwaraMoney and empower citizens to help anti-corruption agencies to kill corruption in Kwara State,” ENetSuD said.

It urged the Kwara State Governor, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, and Speaker of Kwara State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Salihu Yakubu Danladi, to fulfil their promises that the FOI Bill will be passed and signed in this year 2020.

“It is the best gift that Kwarans will have in 2020 and will be a lasting legacy of their (Abdulrahman and Danladi) administration,” the group said.