By Emmanuel Elebeke

Former Governor of Ekiti State and ex-Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has expressed concern over the federal government’s delay in releasing funds from the 2025 budget, nearly six months into the fiscal year.

Speaking at a media and civil society roundtable on Friday in Abuja, Fayemi described the situation as troubling. “June is in two days. Yet not one naira of the 2025 budget has been released to any MDA,” he said, citing a disconnect between the National Assembly’s appropriation process and the executive’s budget implementation.

The roundtable, themed “The Relevance of the FOI Act in Electoral Transparency and Accountability,” was organised by the International Press Centre (IPC) with support from the European Union under its Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) Phase II programme. The event marked the 14th anniversary of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

Reflecting on Nigeria’s democratic journey and the fight for transparency, Fayemi praised the role of civil society organisations such as the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Media Rights Agenda (MRA), and IPC.

“This work is a long struggle in gestation,” he said. “CLO provided the space from which MRA and others emerged. Even IPC started from that push for accountability.”

He also recounted his decision to publicly declare his assets as governor in 2010, despite resistance from some quarters. “I asked: what is ‘public’ about a secret asset declaration?” he said.

Fayemi credited the FOI Act with helping to expose padded budgets, inserted projects, and ghost contracts, referencing findings by civic tech platform BudgIT. However, he warned that access to information does not automatically lead to accountability.

“You can have information without transparency, and transparency without accountability. Power knows the truth—it just chooses when to use it,” he stated.

Highlighting his tenure as head of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Fayemi pointed to the State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) programme. Under this initiative, Ekiti became one of the first states to publish contract and procurement data online.

“Under SFTAS, we encouraged peer review among states. You could go on the Ekiti procurement portal and see who got what contract, for how much, and under what terms,” he noted.

In his welcome address, IPC Executive Director, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, described the roundtable as a strategic platform to assess how the FOI Act can boost democratic governance, transparency, and accountability.

Arogundade also celebrated the 14th anniversary of the Ekiti State FOI Law, the first of its kind at the state level in Nigeria, enacted during Fayemi’s governorship. He used the occasion to present Fayemi with IPC’s belated 2021 FOI Champions Award.

However, he decried the underutilisation of the FOI Act. “The relatively low usage of the FOI Act is still a concern. But it remains a critical tool for transparency, especially in monitoring political financing and electoral processes,” he said.

He reaffirmed IPC’s commitment to strengthening media professionalism, combating disinformation, and promoting inclusive electoral coverage through the EU-SDGN programme.

Representing the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Joseph Garuba condemned the lack of FOI compliance by public institutions and reiterated the ministry’s resolve to enforce adherence. “We can’t support non-compliance,” he said, adding that over 100 lawyers had been trained to enhance FOI implementation, with plans to train another 100 this year.

Also speaking, former House of Representatives member, Hon. Abdul Oroh, called for the establishment of an Office of the Public Defender and a review of the FOI Act by the National Assembly.