*Assembly pledges to reintroduce Bill
By; ALEX UANGBAOJE, Kaduna
As part of strategy to consolidate on transparency around the Kaduna State “Sustain Agenda”, Transparency and Accountability in Totality Initiative (TinT), has held an interactive session with stakeholders.
The engagement which held on Wednesday, was aimed at co-create and co-adopt a roadmap to achieve the “Sustain” manifesto to build an equitable, responsive, collaborative, accountable and beneficial relationship between government and communities.
The stakeholders reaffirmed the importance of the Kaduna State House of Assembly to pass the Freedom of Information bill, that will give citizens access to information.
Responding to questions during a panel discussion, Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Hon. Magaji Henry, assured that the house will reintroduce the bill and ensure it’s passage and domestication in the next few weeks.
According to him, passing the bill into into law is an obligation that the house has to meet because it is crucial to the harmonious relationship between the government and the citizens.
The stakeholders emphasized the need for the house to continue the process from where the last assembly stopped rather than starting all over again which could take a longer time.
They appealed to the Assembly to fast track passage of the bill to give citizens the legal backing for requesting for information before Kaduna State is already practicing the tenets of FOI.
They resolved to set up a committee to further the discussion and follow up on the process to ensure the bill is domesticated.
Earlier, the Project Officer, Musa Sulaiman, explained that TinT, is the parent organization of FollowTaxes and Shin Kun Sheda? and a member of the steering committee, Open Government Partnership (OGP), Kaduna. For over Nine years, in 10 Nigerian states, they have supported the efforts of non-state and state actors in strengthening public transparency, accountability, effectiveness and citizens’ engagement especially around Public Finance Management (Fiscal Planning, Domestic Revenue Mobilization (DRM)/Tax Administration, Budget, Procurement, and Audit) which has improved service delivery in Agriculture, Basic Education, Healthcare and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) with governments more accountable, responsive and capable.
He said the interactive session was organised line with the Kaduna State Government SUSTAIN agenda manifesto points 3 and 7 (Strengthening Institutions and Nurturing Citizens’ Engagement) and in accordance with the Open Government Partnership commitment of the State.
TinT is being supported by Palladium through USAID SCALE (Strengthening Civil Society and Local Engagement) project to advocate for enabling laws, policies, and regulations that expand the civic space for increased citizens-state collaboration.
