Chidoka seeks access to data, information on government activities

News Agency Of Nigeria

September 22, 2019 11:43 AM

Chief Osita Chidoka, former Minister of Aviation has called for more access to information and data on activities of the various tiers of government.

Osita Chidoka [Twitter/@bukolasaraki]

Chidoka made the call in a statement issued by Mr Ikechukwu Okafor, his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity in Awka on Sunday.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain said the information gap between government and the people is partly responsible for the country’s developmental challenges.

He said youths especially social media influence rs should deploy their energies towards enriching dialogue between government and the people by providing information on government’s policies available to them.

He said federal and state governments should emulate Rwanda where budget for the city of Kigali was made public with details of revenue and expenditure.

Chidoka regretted that no such information could be accessed in the official website of state governments including Anambra.

“In Kigali the city website has information about vacancies, test results with scores and names of those finally chosen.

“The website has information about procurement plans, budget and implementation status, the city master plan is also online.

“Can we start from today to demand information from our States?

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“In Anambra my state there is no information on budget, recruitment, procurement and master plan.A search for 2019 budget on the website brought up issues except budget.

“While we are waiting for the new restructured Nigeria, we have to hold our states and agencies to basic standards of openness.

“Our young educated social media commentators miss the issues and allow false narratives to control the dialogue about national and sub national government activities,” he said.

News Agency Of Nigeria