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By
Joseph Onyekwere
Newswatch
magazine, December 18, 2006
The
passage of the Freedom of Information, FOI, Bill by the
National Assembly is hailed nationwide as the best thing
that has happened to the media in Nigeria
The
recent passage of the Freedom of Information, FOI, bill by
the upper chamber of the National Assembly has continued to
generate positive reactions from eminent Nigerians.
Victor
Ndoma-Egba, senate committee chairman on Information, who
presented the report to the Senate provided the platform for
the public discourse when he spoke on the thrust of the
bill. He said the bill provided right of access to public
information or records kept by government, public
institutions or private bodies carrying out public functions
for citizens and non-citizens. It was passed with minor
amendments.
Lanre
Arogundade, director, International Press Centre, IPC, told
Newswacth that the passage of the bill would remove
the erstwhile hindrances that inhibited the activities of
the media. The bill would open up a new vista for
investigative reporting and provide the citizenry the
opportunity to access public records. “Now we should be able
to have factual, accurate and balanced reporting,” he said.
He, however, added that it was not going to be freedom all
through because journalists would have to be trained on
defamation laws. Arogundade said the bill, when signed,
would increase public participation in governance, adding
that provisions should be made to enforce compliance when
public servants hoard information.
Fred
Agbaje, Lagos-based constitutional lawyer, told Newswatch
that the bill when assented to by the President, would
serve as a check to executive excesses and professional
rascality that had characterized governance. “It will make
the government accountable to the electorates, who have the
constitutional sovereignty: The people can call on any
government official to account,” he said. The bill will make
the work of the security agencies such as the Economic and
Financial Crime Commission, EFCC and the Independent Corrupt
Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, much
easier. He called on the government to liaise with the
citizenry and the civil society groups to ensure
implementation. On the part of the media, Agbaje said the
door was then open for the media to play a pivotal role on
the fight against corruption. “The media can now go all out
to carry out investigative journalism,” he said.
Wahab
Oba, chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, Lagos
Council, described the passage of the bill as the best thing
that had happened to the Nigerian journalist. Oba said
though the bill made it an offence to hoard information from
the media, the content of the bill must be studied by
journalists for proper understanding. He said, there should
be appropriate authorities to monitor compliance since
implementation was the major problem confronting laws in
Nigeria. He explained that people can now ask questions and
get answers from the government and expressed the need for
the people to educate themselves on the contents of the bill
to help them to enjoy the rights and privileges it
guarantees them.
Francis
Ekanem, chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, MBA, Uyo branch,
told Newswatch that the media are the greatest
beneficiary of the bill. He said the media were then in a
position to report the government without fear. “The
tribulation that journalists faced before now would be
overcome when the law comes into existence. It sets them
free from the shackles of repression. It will make the
media to be vigilant and dynamic,” he said. Ekanem noted
that before the passage of the bill, there were laws which
made it impossible for the society to be aware of what was
happening in governance, adding that the bill has opened the
doors for active participation by the citizenry in
governance.
The bill
was initiated and submitted to the National Assembly by the
Media Rights Agenda and other civil society groups in 1999.
The House of Representatives passed the bill two years
earlier. The joint committee of the National Assembly has to
harmonise the bill, before sending it to the president for
assent.
When
assented to by the president, the law would make records and
information in the custody of any government officials more
freely available to every person in Nigeria. It is also
expected to facilitate the availability of public records to
citizens in order to encourage more informed participation
in public discourse, promote transparency and accountability
by public officers as well as protect public officers from
punishment for disclosing official information without
authorization.
With
this bill, Nigerians can access information on the cost of
suspicious government projects, demand to know how funds
earmarked for public projects are expended and obtain
information on the activities of public agencies without
having to demonstrate or prove any specific interest in the
information being requested.
But the
freedom to access public information provided by the bill
would be abridged. Information on defence, law enforcement
investigations, national trade secrets, international
affairs, technical and scientific information with economic
or security implications would be precluded.
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