FG wants Nigerians to track budgets

From Samuel Bello, Abuja

The Federal Government wants Nigerians to take advantage of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act to track budget implementation at local government, state and federal levels.
It said with the FoI Act, people could obtain factual information on government budgets and use it to track their implementation and raise objections when budgetary provisions were misappropriated.
Director General of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr. Garba Abari, who gave the charge while flagging off the agency’s Local Government Assembly at the palace of the Esu Karu in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, also urged Nigerians to join the anti-corruption fight of the present administration and patronise local goods to salvage the nation’s economy.
Abari urged every Nigerian with credible information about corrupt individuals and situations to “come forward without delay and blow the whistle with full assurance of government’s protection.”
The Esu of Karu, Mr. Luka Baba Manya, harped on the need for Nigerians to return to the universal traditional values for which the communities were known, including integrity in service, respect for constituted authority; dignity of labour and good neighbourliness.
During an interactive session, participants stressed the urgent need to end the growing menace of herdsmen attacks of farms and farmers in the interest of food and human security.
They also called on traditional, religious and academic institutions to exercise greater caution in the award of titles to avoid promoting corrupt persons and, by extension, corruption.