A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), YandyTech Community, has tasked the Kaduna state government and the State House of Assembly on speedy domestication of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) YandyTech community, Mohammed Bayero Yayandi, made the call on Monday at a two-training on digital resilience for 30 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and youth activists in the state.
Yayandi, therefore, urged governor Uba Sani to synergise with the state’s House of Assembly to pass the FOI Bill, which was sent to it by the previous administration.
According to him, if FOI Act, if passed, it will assist the government in monitoring projects in the communities as the locals will do that for the benefit of their communities.
”We want the state to have a legal backing to enable the citizens to have access to information even if the government chooses to opt out of the OGP.”
”The citizens can also access the tenders and bills of quantity to ensure compliance of project specifications by the contractors.
Yayandi however, explained that the training aimed at building the capacity of the participants to advocate more open policies for the citizens to have more access to information on government spending and other documents.
He said that the training will also ensure data right and how youths can participate in advocating and using the digital space positively, adding that the training will equip the participants with the skills to be able to detect and combat digital threats.
“We want to foster a digitally-resilient community by empowering the participants so that they can operate safely online, promote transparency, and hold those in power accountable.”
The State’s steering committee on OGP civil society co-chair, Mubarak Abdulganiyu said importance of the project, which is centred around digital advocacy, could not be overemphasised.
He noted that the workshop is timely and it’s going to build the capacity of the participants on how to stay resilient in terms of advocacy.
“We understand that there are scarce resources from government and it take a level of resilience for us to be able to have certain results that we are advocating for”.
Bilkisu Ali Gwabin who spoke on behalf of the youth activists, commended YandyTech community for the wonderful opportunity, promising to make good use of digital space to access information.
The workshop was funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (Danida) and co-funded by the European Union (EU).
