Nigerians
have criticized the planned tour of the Federal,State and Local
Government projects across the country by the Minister of Information,
Labaran Maku, which begins today from Abuja as a mere charade.
The Minister had through a social media network-
Facebook revealed that the information ministry would be embarking on a
National Good Governance Tour of the Federal, State and Local Governments
projects across the country with Federal Information Officers serving as
guide to project sites with the media publicising them for Nigerians to
see the achievements recorded so far in the past two years.
“This is an innovative way of rendering account of our
stewardship to Nigerians who gave us their mandate. The National Good
Governance Tour which will be embarked upon in company with the media and
the civil society is an innovative way of informing Nigerians
by showcasing projects executed on non-partisan basis and devoid
of propaganda.
It is interactive through the various social media platforms
so that ordinary citizens can equally make their contributions. But since it
was posted, his comment has attracted a lot of knocks and attacks from
angry Nigerians with various comments which points at the suffering of the
masses and the insensitivity of the Jonathan led administration.
One of those who lashed out at Maku disclosed that if
the government is working, there was no need to waste money
transporting information officers to take photographs of projects because
the citizens would have had a feel of it themselves.
He added that in a situation where people go to bed
without meal because of poverty, such a tour should not be a priority to the government.
“Maku is pretending that media tour is solution, who is fooling who,” he asked
rhetorically.
It should be recalled that Prof Jerry Gana, when he was
Information Minister around 2000/2001, took journalists around the states for projects
views.