FOI Bill: Buhari hails NASS, Chukwumerije raises fears

By Olusola Fabiyi, Oluwole Josiah and Olayinka Oyebode

The Punch: Saturday, 18 November 2006

Former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday, congratulated members of the National Assembly for passing the Freedom of Information Bill.

Buhari said in a statement, which he personally signed and made available to our correspondent in Abuja, that the bill was the bedrock of liberal democracy.

He said, “Freedom of information is the bedrock of liberal democracy. Freedom of information extends the frontiers of democracy, consolidates transparency and in our political landscape, it will equip and energise the vibrant Nigerian media in executing its mandate of informing and educating the citizenry. It will also build a genuine political culture anchored on integrity, discipline and transparency.”

The former head of state, who is also a presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, said the bill, when signed into law, would reconnect “our people who had been disconnected from government. It will also strengthen the social contract between the leaders and the led, a contact which crass corruption had breached.”

Meanwhile, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, while lauding the passage of the bill, said the problem of lack of courage on the part of Nigerians and the likely frustrations from the Presidency might work against the law.

He said in an interview in Abuja that the passage of the bill could be a landmark in the culture of the dispensation of information in Nigeria.

The lawmaker explained, “The executive has not been too quick in passing bills not initiated by it. The bill was not initiated by the executive, or was it? No. The executive has never been quick in giving assent to bills – private bills, or bills not initiated by it. But we sincerely hope that they will see any delay in this as something contradicting their anti-corruption posture.”

Chukwumerije further said that there had never been problems with the laws in Nigeria but rather, it had been the human factor.

He said “People must have the courage to be able to come forward with information, knowing now that they have been protected by the law.”

He also said that the bills, when passed, would help a lot in checking corruption. But he insisted that it would still be necessary for people to be able to demonstrate the courage to come out with information.

“It will help in the sense that it will remove the legal excuse people have for not coming forward; but the moral constraints, the moral problem of lack of courage will still remain. We will hope this law will do a lot in encouraging people to develop some courage to come forward.

“We sincerely hope that after the bill has been signed into an Act, the unhealthy habit of hoarding information and seeing everything in the country as a state secret will be discarded,” he added.

Also on Friday, an official of the Media Rights Agenda, Mr. Tive Denedo, said on the telephone that it would not rest until President Olusegun Obasanjo assents to the bill.

Denedo said the group would step up its lobbying locally and internationally to ensure that. He added that the MRA would liaise with the two committees of the National Assembly to ensure that the two versions are harmonised.