The former national chairman of the People's Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, on Sunday, said that Nigerians are not properly informed of government programmes.
Nwodo who was a governor of the old Enugu State further stated that government need to address the communication gap which exists between the governed and the government so as to carry the people along.
His remarks came on the heels of President Bola Tinubu's broadcast on the ongoing protest in the country.
He further said that there should be effective monitoring of government programmes to ensure that they get to the target citizens of the country, adding that the federal, state and local governments need to invest in agriculture to address the food inflation in the country.
"From all that the president has said, it appears there is a huge communication gap between the government and the governed. I am sure that many Nigerians are hearing about these government's efforts for the first time, including those who should be the primary beneficiaries of those efforts.
"Secondly, if the government is able to close the communication gap, it must at the same time have effective monitoring architecture to make sure that what they are promising the people are being delivered to the target citizens. If you ask students whether they have received the students' loan, or the people running SMEs whether they have received all these promises, you would be surprised that none have accessed them.
"Ignorance is the worst disease anywhere. People can kill if they don't have the right information and they would regret having done what they did when they have the right information. I think that the citizens have a right to be properly informed of what government is doing on their behalf.
"It is only from this broadcast that one can believe that there is something being done positively on the removal of fuel subsidy. If we are moving from 97% to 68% in repayment of our loan, that is appreciable. Nobody has ever heard about it before. The efforts of the government need to be properly communicated to the people. Ministers have a responsibility of letting the people know what is happening at their ministries, parastatals and agencies," he said.
