Why governments lose citizens’ loyalty — NOA

Governments lose the confidence of their citizens largely due to insufficient information flow, the Director General (DG) of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr. Garba Abari, has said.

He said this yesterday in Abuja at the December Lunch Time Reform Seminar Series of Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), themed, “The Imperative of Developing a Sustainable Framework for Citizens Engagement with Government Towards Nation Building”.

According to him, constitutional democracies worldwide derive their essence from the sovereign status conferred on citizens in the political and governance process, in the preferences that citizens make in the choices of those they desire should represent them in the management of human, material and financial resources.

He said that elected representatives and by extension, government, merely hold in trust the reins of power for the citizens; and are therefore obligated to be responsive to their frustrations, fears, hopes and aspirations.

“Regrettably, quite a number of governments, the world over, struggle to win the confidence and enlist the good will of their citizens largely owing to the ominous chasm created between citizens and government as a result of insufficient information flow,” Abari said.

Speaking earlier the Director General of the BPSR, Mr. Dasuki I. Arabi, said the spirit of Public Service extends beyond Government and Public Institutions, as people from all walks of life and various fields of human endeavour contribute to the achievement of public results.