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A member of the Edo Revenue Board, Mr Hassan Kadiri, has called for the involvement of people at the grassroots in policy formulation to enhance good governance in the country.
Kadiri said in an interview with the Newsmen in Auchi that besides tackling corruption, the involvement of the people in policy formulation and execution would also enhance service efficiency.
According to him, the failure of elected officials in the country is largely attributable to their failure to engage the people directly in governance.
“The people know what their problems are and when you allow them to freely discuss this problem and proffer solutions, things become easier for both the officials and the people.
“With this approach, projects that will have direct impact on the lives of the people and not white elephant projects will be sited in an area.
“You do not for instance, assume what the people need is market when actually they need water.
“The bottom-top-approach affords the opportunity for formulation and execution of projects that have direct bearing on the lives of the people of the locality,” he said.
Kadiri advised local government councils to adopt measures that would generate more revenue to meet the yearnings of the people.
“Councils must devise means of generating their own revenue instead of relying on the monthly federal allocation.
“It is sad, that most council officials do not even think of how to shore up their internally generated revenue but only rely heavily on the monthly allocation from the Federal Government,” Kadiri added.
