Connected Development Pushes for Open Government in Akwa Ibom State
…Calls for Domestication of FOI Act
By Ekemini Simon
The Civil Society Organisation, ‘Connected Development’, CODE, has called on the government of Akwa Ibom State to adopt the principles of Open Government in its governance style.
The State Team Lead of CODE, Mr Ubong Ekpe, made the call weekend during an advocacy visit to the Chairman, House Committee on Rules, Business, Ethics and Privileges of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Prince Ukpong Akpabio.
Ekpe said Akwa Ibom State can commence the adoption of this principle by domesticating the Freedom of Information, FOI, Act in Akwa Ibom State.
He described as untrue the thought that FOI when domesticated in Akwa Ibom would create an avenue to witch-hunt public office holders.
The State Team Lead noted that Akwa Ibom state has been deprived of so many investment opportunities and privileges due to its inability to be seen as an open government.
While commending the government of Akwa Ibom State for publishing its budget among other financial documents, Ekpe said the State government needs to urgently improve in the aspect of granting citizens access to information.
He said although Akwa Ibom State had earned billions of naira in grants by implementing some Disbursement Linked Indicators of the States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, and Sustainability, SFTAS programme, much was not earned unlike States like Kaduna, Jigawa, and Plateau who are performing well on the Open Government Partnership Initiative which the tenets of FOI is included.
The State Team Lead added that the State is lagging in terms of Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, stressing that no investor would like to invest in a state where citizens find it difficult to access information.
Ekpe explained that the FOI when domesticated, would attract Foreign Direct Investment, 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 added “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.”
Ekpe asked the State Assembly to domesticate the FOI Act, and mandate the State Executive to join other 25 States of the Federation to sign on to the Open Government Partnership which he said the immediate win will be commendable performance in the $750 million world bank-assisted State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) Programme which has replaced SFTAS.
In his response, the Chairman, House Committee on Rules, Business, Ethics and Privileges of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Prince Ukpong Akpabio commended Connected Development for its interest and effort towards government reforms.
He noted that the State stands to gain when citizens have access to information. Akpabio assured that he will sponsor the bill on the domestication of the FOI Act and also mobilize his colleagues to support the bill for its passage by the State Assembly.