A Civil Society Organisation, ‘Connected Development’, CODE, has advocated the domestication of the Freedom of Information, FOI, act in Akwa Ibom State.
The State Lead of CODE, Mr Ubong Ekpe, made the call on Friday during an advocacy visit to the member representing Nsit Atai at the State House of Assembly, Prince Aniefiok Attah in his office in Uyo.
He dismissed the insinuations that FOI when domesticated in Akwa Ibom would witch-hunt public office holders, noting that the state has been deprived of so many opportunities and privileges due to its inability to run an open government.
He noted that the Sifter grant of 1.5 billion dollars given by the World Bank was only accessed by states that posted their budget in the public domain and upheld the tenets of FOI.
He added that the state is lagging in terms of Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, saying that no investor would like to invest in a state where financial expenditure and budget are shrouded in secrecy.
Ekpe also noted that the FOI when domesticated, would help to reduce corruption and enable Civil Society Organisations and the people track and monitor government contracts, to know the name of the contractor, the company handling any project, whether it is executing the project based on specifications and track the budget efficiently.
He, therefore, encouraged the lawmakers to build the FOI around what would suit the narrative of the state.
His words, “We are advocating that the FOI passed at the Federal level should be domesticated in Akwa Ibom State. I think there is a misunderstanding around the bill that legislators feel is trying to witch-hunt them or ask unnecessary questions. This is totally false, I tell you that there are enormous benefits such as the sifter grant of up to 1.5 billion dollars from the World Bank that demanded that sub-national government post their budget to the public domain so that everyone should have access to it
“We are losing a lot by not signing to open government. For instance, Kaduna State was able to get a Brazilian company to invest in their lithium deposit to the tune of 7 billion dollars because Kaduna State has always been at the forefront of transparency even NGO investment in Kaduna State was topnotch because of what the former Governor Nasir Elrufai left behind in terms of transparency.”
Responding, the Lawmaker, Prince Attah commended CODE for coming up with such a proposal and assured of his readiness to present it on the floor of the House in due time.
Attah said the enormous benefits of domestication of the FOI would not be over-emphasized and expressed optimism that the bill will see the light of day in the state.
“This is a very wonderful bill and I’ll ensure it is presented to the House. All we are doing here is to serve the interest of our people and we have to engage in people-oriented bill.” He said