By Tajudeen Abdulwahab
Brain Builder Youth Development Initiative (BBYDI), a non-profit organisation with a passion for transparency and accountability, has bemoaned the Kwara State Government led by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq over its failure to upload the 2023 appropriation bill on the state website weeks after the presentation on the floor of the State House of Assembly.
According to BBYDI, a series of emails was sent by its Programmes Officer, Adewale Habeeb to the state government, screenshots of which were made available to The Ravens NG.
“There is no substantial response from governor Abdulrazaq, Kwara commissioner for Finance, Olasumbo Oyeyemi Florence, and the state house speaker, Rt. Hon Yakubu Danladi,” the group said.
“In her response, Commissioner for Finance Olasumbo Florence said the document requested had been published, while BBYDI noted that what is obtainable on the state website is a one-pager document posted on Monday, December 5, 2022, and not the detailed “Proposed Recurrent and Capital Estimates 2023.”
BBYDI had earlier dragged the Kwara State Ministry of Finance to court in order to comply with the Freedom of Information Act.
While commenting on the issue, the Executive Director of the Brain Builders Youth Development Initiative, Olasupo Abideen Opeyemi, charged the state assembly to pass the FOI bill as it gives everyone the right to request information which is in the custody of any public official, agency or institution.
The NGO scored the AbdulRazaq-led government low on transparency after an assessment that in their words picked holes in the Kwara State budget since 2019.
BBYDI says it believes that governmental accountability is the centrepiece in the march toward Sustainable Development.
“It is a stated fact that at the heart of all democratic governments in the modern world lies a responsibility to be accountable,” it added.
