In its pursuit of holding public office holders accountable, and promoting transparency in procurement, Edo Civil Society Organization (EDOCSO), Friday, organised a day workshop on using ‘Freedom of Information Act to Facilitate Transparency in Procurement’ for community leaders, women and youths.
The workshop held in Benin was in collaboration with Social Development Integrated Centre also known as Social Action.
Speaking at the workshop, Program Director, Social Action, Botti Isaac, said the workshop was aimed at “equiping community people with ideas, strategies and tools in engaging government and government’s agency in ensuring effective service delivery.
According to him, over the years, it has been observed that community people are not able to ask the right questions such as procurement documents, contract documents of ministries and agency because they (community people) do not have the right information.
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He said this lack of the right information warranted his organisation to organise the workshop with a view to enlightening and giving them the right tools to get the necessary information.
“So, our organisation saw the need to bring together these people and intimate them on strategies, approach in using the FOI as a tool to engaging duty bearers, and to ensure that they are more responsible and responsive to the people in ensuring that services are effectively deliver at community levels.
“So, the idea is to equip citizens for further action, and by action, I mean engaging duty bearers for inclusive and effective service delivery,” he added.
Asked if government agency have been complying with the FOIA which has been in existence since 2011, Isaac said: “If I am to rate government agencies and ministries, my rating will be at 50 percent, because a lot of government agency are not complying. Where we have compliance issues most is at the state level because many have argued that it has not been domesticated in their states.
On his part, a former Coordinator-General of EDOCSO, Comrade Omobude Agho, while speaking on the subtitle: ‘Introduction to Freedom of Information Act:A Breakdown of the Act’, challenged community dwellers to hold government accountable.
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While re-emphasising his organisation’s commitment in continuously enlightening citizens until they are fully aware of the FOIA and demand for accountability and transparency, Agho said: “to hold government accountable is a responsibility of every citizen, but a lot doesn’t know why they are citizens and to what extent their citizenship is.
“So, we have gather people from different communities to teach them what it means to be citizens and how to use the FOIA to track project and to insist that projects are done up to specifications.”
Speaking on Making Request for Freedom of Information Under the FOI Act, a lawyer who specialises in FOI, President Aigbokhan, while corroborating other speakers’ said citizens are not enlighten enough on the FOIA, and that a citizen can query government without being a lawmaker through the help of the FOIA.
He said: “FOI has made it possible for citizens to be participatory in government. Citizens can use FOIA to track government projects and participate in governance.
“There is law that empowers citizens to query government without going the National Assembly.”