The quest for transparency

One thing I have noticed that is very common amongst politicians and politics in general is the lack of proper transparency. This is especially true in a country like Nigeria where a lot of the politicians are very corrupt and what is the best way to hide corrupt practices? You withhold information. I mean, it is easier to hide the information about an awarded contract than to start explaining what happened to the money allocated to such a project. Unfortunately for them, we now live in an era with an unprecedented flow of information.

I enjoy reading news updates a lot and I'm an active member of nairaland forum where news from all around the world is shared daily. I can't count the number of times I have come across information that got leaked by journalists and it's crazy when you see the type of digging these journalists can do just to fish out the truth and when they do get hold of such info, they lay it bare all over the internet for everyone to see. Personally, I believe citizens have the right to know whatever is going on in the country BUT this should be done with utmost planning, especially for very controversial issues that can lead to social unrest.

Transparency is one of the strong pillars of democracy and I don't see why the government should hide vital information from the public. As I said earlier, corruption thrives in Nigeria and one of the major causes or should I say catalysts for corruption is lack of transparency. This is why you often hear people say don't trust the government and by extension, the media because in most cases, the media is a tool of the government for hiding or manipulating information. But even as I am advocating for transparency, I believe there should be a limit on what the government reveals to the public.

When it comes to very delicate security information that can jeopardize a mission when released to the public, it is best to keep such a secret. Matters of national security are very delicate and while it's good to reveal certain information concerning security, there are certain things that shouldn't be made public. For example, when the US raided Osama Bin Laden's residence and neutralized him, do you think the mission would have been successful if the government revealed their plan to its citizens? But they did reveal how they planned the whole thing after the mission was successful, which still shows transparency.

I guess I shouldn't be mentioning transparency and the US in the same sentence because they are one of the best at hiding information 😅 not just from its citizens, but the rest of the world as well. I mentioned earlier that much care and proper planning should be carried out before releasing very controversial information to the public. One thing that should be done in such cases is to make sure all the information is complete and verified before letting the citizens know about it. Lack of proper context and misunderstandings are the major reasons why potentially shocking news can lead to social unrest and if there's one thing I know about a lot of politicians it is that they are very bad at giving proper context.

While the government needs to be transparent, a middle ground should be reached on how information is released to the public. Immature information as well as vital matters concerning national security and important strategic interests shouldn't be released to the public indiscriminately or they can be released when the time is right. Just like the US vs Osama Bin Laden example I gave earlier, late information is better than no information at all. Withholding information should only be temporary, especially in cases where such information is a threat to national security but when the threat is resolved, then the public should know about it and also why it was hidden initially.

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