Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s call for Kogi Central residents to track and monitor local government funds is noted, but it is important to state the obvious: this responsibility begins with her, not the people she now wants to place the burden on.
As a Senator, she is one of those who approve the national budget, fully aware of what each LGA receives. The ordinary citizens she is addressing do not have access to those figures, documents, or breakdowns. Pushing the duty of “tracking and monitoring” to people who have no tools, no data, and no official access is not empowerment — it is deflection.
If the Senator is truly serious about transparency, she should first release the detailed allocation figures, provide the required monitoring framework, and equip the people with the means to hold their LG chairmen accountable. Instead, she has remained silent and passive on this critical matter while asking the masses to do what only she has the mandate and access to initiate.
You cannot tell people to monitor what you, with all the power and information, have refused to reveal.
Transparency starts from leadership, not lectures.
– Comrade Ayiziki Agidi
Kogi Central Good Governance Initiative
