The Kano State Head of
Service (HOS), Alhaji Mohammad Auwal Na’iya, has revealed that the state
government committed to adopt the Freedom of Information
Act to complement its other transparency and accountability initiative in the
State, reports ITRealms.
Disclosing this in a keynote
addressed delivered at the joint roundtable workshop of state and non-state
actors held to assess the level of understanding and implementation of the FOI
Act in Kano State, he said, that the state government has initiated a number of
processes to promote transparency, accountability and prudence in government.
“The Kano State government,
according to him has agreed to adopt and implement the Freedom of Information
Act through the OGP process which the State has signed unto,” he said.
The adoption of the FOI Act in the
State, he said, is being subjected to wide consultation and will go through the
legislative process.
Also speaking, the Executive
Chairman of the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission
(PCACC) Alhaji Muhuyi Magaji Rimingado, related what the state government is
doing to complement the FOI implementation including the establishment of
PCACC, its participation in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Initiative
through which it has chosen to adopt the FOI Act and the development of an
anti-corruption strategy.
Two issues that run through the
roundtable workshops were the observations that there is need for statewide
awareness, sensitization and educational activities to carry the people along.
They also noted that the existence of the Official Secrets Act and the
administration of the Oath of Secrecy on civil servants will impede the
implementation of the FOI Act and should be reviewed or repealed as the case
may be.
They also made a number of
recommendations following the adoption of the communiqué issued at the end of
the workshop.
The three-day roundtable which took
place from Tuesday, May 15 to Thursday, May 17, 2018, brought together public
officials, the media, professional bodies and non-governmental organisations to
assess the level of awareness, understanding and implementation of the FOI Act,
2011; ascertain the gaps that exist and work on closing those gaps, as well as
to get a sense of the needs that exist in knowledge about the FOI Act in order
to adequately prepare and put strategy in place to address the identified
needs.
Resource persons were drawn from
the Freedom of Information Coalition, Nigeria, including Dr. Walter Duru,
Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Coalition and Ayode Longe, the
Secretary of the Board of Governors of the Coalition.
The roundtable recorded various
sessions, comprising presentations, situation assessment through administration
of questionnaires, feedback through questions and comments and viewing of a
video on how members of a rural Indian community called Rajasthan successfully
used the country’s FOI law to hold their elected officials to account for funds
that they administered and the ripple effect it had in the State which
entrenched transparency policy as a result.
The roundtable workshop was held
with support from the European Union, through the Rule of Law and
Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) Programme, managed by the British
Council. The Round table took place at Tahir Guest Palace on Ibrahim
Natsugune Road, Nassarawa, Kano.
Kano State is one of the four focal
states of the RoLAC programme. The other three states are Adamawa, Lagos and
Anambra.
Uboshe Uboshe/GEE
Pix: Gov. Ganduje of Kano State
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