How FOI will benefit the average Nigerian

By Adeyeye Joseph

The Punch: Thursday, 16 November, 2006

With the passage of the Freedom of Information Bill 2006 by the Senate on Wednesday, the upper house gave the ordinary Nigerian the right to tug, yank at or, even, pull off the veil of secrecy that has always shrouded government business.

Simply put, the FOI Bill provides that every Nigerian has the right to request for information on government business from government bodies or private organisations that perform public functions. The law will operate on three principles; the declassification of public information; right of access to public information and the principle of right of undisclosure. Not only will the Bill, when it becomes law make public records and information freely available to the media and the ordinary citizens, it will also protect serving public officers from punitive measures resulting from disclosing certain kinds of official information without authorisation.

The road to yesterday’s passage of the bill was tortuous. The Bill was submitted to the National Assembly in July 1999. But its progress was repeatedly stalled by government officials and security agencies, who felt that some of its provisions were inimical to the safety of government records.

Some of the interests include President Obasanjo -who opposed a clause that provides that non-citizens could use the FOI to get information- and the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency, which rejected the Bill in its entirety.

Now, only one hurdle remains, and that is the assent of President Olusegun Obasanjo. The assent must come within 30 days, and once it does the Bill becomes a legal instrument it is expected to change the face of information dissemination in the country for good.

So, what should the average Nigerian expect from the FOI law?

Over sixty-one countries around the world have subsisting FOI laws. The oldest is believed to be Sweden’s Freedom of the Press Act of 1766.

In the United States of America where FOI has been used extensively to make governance more open and accountable, FOI laws are sometimes called ‘Sunshine laws’ (an allusion to “allowing light to shine” on the process of governance).

In Nigeria FOI advocates has contended that the light will not only shine on governance but also on the restrictive laws that have made it impossible for the media, the civil society and whistleblowers in government to report illegalities in government.

Some of these laws include the Official Secrets Acts, the Federal Commissions (Privileges and Immunities) Act, the Public Complaints Commission Act, the Evidence Act, The Architects (Registration etc), Act, The Statistics Act and some provisions of the Criminal Code. According to Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), the Chairman of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the Freedom of Information Bill 2006, the Bill, when it becomes law, will have a direct impact on the Official Secrets Act.

As it obtains in some of these countries, a Nigerian will be able to walk up to a government establishment and ask for information on any of the three of arms of government, at any level.

It is also important to note that the burden of proof is on the body asked for information, not the person asking for it. Thus, this Nigerian will not have to give an explanation for their request. While, some provisions of the law may permit an official to decline to disclose a piece of information, he is mandated by law to give a genuine reason for doing so. And in the event that the requester is not satisfied he may take the matter to court and in the event of the official being convicted, he can be sentenced to a jail term not exceeding three years.

Even more than the ordinary man, it is the civil society and the media, the two institutions who have been in the vanguard of the efforts that culminated in yesterday’s passage, that are likely to benefit most from the law. Members of these two institutions have said that they are always frustrated by government officials and allied organizations when they seek information for the purpose of making elected officials accountable.

Still, in the midst of the euphoria that has greeted the passage it is important to note that there are certain aspect of government business that will still be exempted from the general right of access to information. The information exempted include those relating to defense matters, the conduct of international affairs, law enforcement investigations, trade secrets, technical and scientific information of economic value, personal information, third party information, information covered by solicitor/client privilege, examinations texts, questions etc. But not even these exemptions are likely to douse the excitement that the passage of the Bill into law will engender.