Obasesam Okoi|2 December 2015|5:24am
There's an effusion of misinformation spreading online suggesting that Cross River has been rated high on budget transparency. This is absolute
falsehood because the article from where the information originated does not argue as such.
The argument is that Cross River, along with two other states, are making progress towards budget
transparency, which when interpreted accurately, implies that Cross River is yet to achieve budget
transparency.
While some are beginning to use inaccurate statistics from a source that has no credibility to score a political goal, it is unclear when the survey was conducted and which population was sampled.
It is unclear also whether this progress was made during Governor Imoke's era especially that Ayade
has been running a one man government where contracts are awarded without due process.
How, for example, will Cross River be rated high in budget transparency when the present governor submitted his budget just recently without citizen
participation and debate? Unless this progress was made during Imoke's government it remains a
comfortable lie.
There's a paucity of development data in Nigeria to the extent that only The World Bank and
Transparency International can provide credible data for substantiating any claim on budget
transparency. And even if such information exist, the national data has to be disaggregated for us to
understand what is happening at the sub-national level.
I think Ayade's men are creating a serious collateral damage on his leadership integrity by throwing political explosives on the air.
Obasesam Okoi
Is a Canadian-based University Don
