Kayode Fayemi, governor of the Nigerian state of Ekiti State, signed a freedom of information act for his state on July 4.
The legislation was described as a domestication” of the new Nigerian national FOIA law in report by Emma Maduabuchi in The Independent. The Nigerian law was signed in May. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.)
Fayemi said after passage that “this is the first state to pass the FOI to demonstrate our commitment to transparency in governance in all forms….”
The Nigerian Tribune wrote:
Fayemi noted that the foundation for socio-economic development of the state had just been laid with adherence to the principles of good governance which, according to him, has restored public confidence in governance.
His words: “The first thing to be done was to be completely transparent with our people, we have huge aspirations but limited resources.
“Our people can see a gradual difference with what happened in the past, they now see a governor that is consistent in connecting with them and somebody that will not embarrass the state.
I declared my assets and published them in the media. I signed the Fiscal Responsibility Bill into Law, we have restored public confidence in governance”.
The Independent article describes Fayemi’s partly by noting that he was once a journalist and director of Centre for Democracy & Development (CDD), a research and training institution dedicated to the study and promotion of democracy.
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