Provisions of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act will be deployed to investigate status of some pending constituency projects in Kwara to ensure accountability.
Speaking during a town hall meeting on the need for citizens to get engaged in constituency projects in their various communities on Monday, the Kwara State Supporting Officer of Project Trust of the Connected Development (CODE), Mr. Kehinde Akinsola, lamented that some projects tracked by his organization, a non-governmental organization, were either abandoned or not done.
Akinsola said that the organization would use the provisions of the FOI Act to write ministries, departments, and agencies in the state, on the status of the projects and seek answers.
Akinsola said CODE, through members of its Community of Practise (CoP), tracked three constituency projects in three senatorial districts of Kwara state to know their status.
”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; 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, but there was provision of Computer Based Test (CBT) equipment to the College of Education, Technical, Lafiagi”, he said.
Mr. Akinsola said that the town hall meeting was meant to avail all relevant stakeholders of the status of some of the constituency projects, under the Zonal Intervention Projects (ZIP), tracked by the organisation.
He also said that the 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”.
The CODE officer said the town hall meeting would allow the community members to share their plight with officials and different organizations, as well as chart a way forward.
Also speaking, Chief Taiwo Ogundipe from Esie community said that visit of the Project Trust to the town had re-awakened their spirit, adding that the project was commenced after Project Trust team visited the community.
He said the visit opened their eyes to the fact that the project was worth N100 million which the community would not have known if not for CODE, and promised that the community would follow it to completion.
Chief Ogundipe said the community would also liaise 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 on the project to ensure that it was eventually carried out.
Chairman, Kwara Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Alhaji Abubakar Abdullahi, said there was a need to bridge communication gap between community members and their representatives as some of them present constituency projects as personal, without even meeting up to standard.
The Chairman, Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD), Mr Bashir Yusuf, called for amendments to the Kwara State Disabilities Law to ensure full access to their fundamental rights and privileges.
Mr. Yusuf said the changes, if implemented, would promote greater inclusion and improve the quality of life in Kwara State.
He said the State House of Assembly should amend among other things, the section for an Executive Secretary who is a person with a disability, opposing the current provision that allows for someone without a disability but with relevant experience.
”We also want to include an establishment of Office for Disability Affairs, which should function under the Office of the Governor, comprising 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.
Director of Legislative Matters at the Kwara House of Assembly, Mr. Yakub Yaru, assured participants that their message would be communicated to the Assembly.
He promised that efforts would be made to ensure the proposed amendments are reviewed and implemented promptly.
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