NGO to use FOI Act to investigate pending constituency projects

 

By Bushrah Yusuf-Badmus

A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Connected Development (CODE), under its Project Trust programme, says it will use the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act to investigate the status of some pending constituency projects in Kwara.

Mr Kehinde Akinsola, the Kwara Supporting Officer of Project Trust, said this on Monday in Ilorin during a town hall meeting on the need for citizens to be engaged in constituency projects in their communities.

Akinsola said the meeting was meant to avail stakeholders on the status of some of the constituency projects, under the Zonal Intervention Projects (ZIP), tracked by the organisation.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Project Trust, a CODE programme, was aimed at deepening and institutionalising accountability, social inclusion systems and processes to promote resilience and sustainability in governance across the country.

It also aims to create an existence of accountability system between the citizens and the government.

Akinsola said CODE, through its Community of Practise (CoP) members, tracked three constituency projects in three senatorial districts of Kwara to know their status.

He said the CoP members visited the communities where the projects were meant to be cited and interacted with members of the communities.

”The communities visited were, Lafiagi for Kwara North, Aboto Oja and Laduba for Kwara Central and Esie/Iludun for Kwara South.

”The CoP members discovered that as at July 2024, the Construction of Solar Boreholes in Selected areas of Aboto Oja, was not done. The Solar Power Street light in selected areas of Laduba was started but not completed.

”It was the same situation in Esie/Iludun as the proposed Renovation and equipping of Esie/Iludun Grammar School was not carried out.

“There was Provision of Computer Based Test (CBT) equipment to the College of Education, Technical, Lafiagi,” he said.

The CODE officer said the town hall meeting would afford the community members to share their plight with officials and different organisations, as well as chart a way forward.

He said the organisation would use the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act to write the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, on the status of the projects and seeks answers.

Chief Taiwo Ogundipe from Esie community, said Project Trust’s visit to the town “re-awakened their spirit”, as the project was just started after the team’s visit to the community.

According to him, the visit opened our eyes to the fact that the project was worth N100 million, which the community wouldn’t have known if not for CODE, and we will follow it to completion.

Ogundipe said the community would also liase with the Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development on the modalities of the project.

Alhaji Adebayo Abdullateef from Aboto-Oja community, pledged the community’s support to Project Trust in following up the project to ensure that it was eventually carried out.

Alhaji Abubakar Abdullahi, Chairman, Kwara Fiscal Responsibility Commission, said there was the need to bridge communication gap between community members and their representatives.

He explained that some of the members presented constituency projects as personal, without even meeting up to standard.

Mr Bashir Yusuf, Chairman, Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD), called for amendments to the Kwara State Disabilities Law to ensure full access to their fundamental rights and privileges.

Yusuf said the changes, if implemented, would promote greater inclusion and improve their quality of life in Kwara State.

According to him, the state House of Assembly should amend the section for an executive secretary, who is a person with a disability, because the current provision allows for someone without a disability, but with relevant experience.

”We also want included an establishment of Office for Disability Affairs, which should function under the Office of the Governor, comprising of representatives of persons with disabilities from the three senatorial districts in the state.

”The office should also have, representatives from the National Human Rights Commission, various disability clusters, and key state ministries,” the JONAPWD Chairman said.

Responding, Mr Yakub Yaru, Director of Legislative Matters at the Kwara House of Assembly, assured participants that their message would be communicated to the assembly.

He promised that efforts would be made to ensure the proposed amendments were reviewed and implemented promptly.

NAN reports that there were representatives from Kwara Ministry of Education, Ministry of Water Resources, Kwara House of Assembly, an NGO-Citizens Assembly, and a host of others.

 

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