Years after the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act was passed in Nigeria, many states are yet to domesticate it or create comparative and parallel mechanisms that serve to promote transparency and accountability in government.
Days ago, a Civil Society Organisation, Connected Development, CODE, called for the domestication of the Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, in states to enhance development.
The call was made by Kingsley Agu, Programmes Manager, CODE, at a two-day training for government officials, CSOs and other stakeholders in Calabar, Cross River State.
On March 27 2018 the Akure Division, the Court of Appeal held that Nigerian states have no powers to reject requests filed under the FoI. The Court also held that the requests for information, especially around public expenditure, under the FoI, are made in public interest and should be honoured by all states.
Agu during the event said: ”We are concentrating on the FOIA in order to expand the civic space by ensuring that people had access to information to engender development.
”The FOIA was one of the greatest instrument necessary to access information and supersedes any other law that hinders access to information.
“To have active citizens, people need to know what government is all about, areas they should participate for development, this cannot be achieved if they can’t access information from the government.
“One of the major challenges we have faced using the FOIA despite its passage into law nationally in 2011 is that of domestication in states.
“There is also the issue of lack of awareness among government officials, as many don’t know what the FOIA entails and the power it has given to the citizens to access information from government.”
While commending Delta for domesticating the law in 2017, Mr. Agu called on other states to follow suit adding that whether it was domesticated in a state or not everyone ought to respond to FOIA requests.
Likewise, the Attorney General of Cross River State, Tanko Ashang who took part in the training disclosed that at the end of the training, he would go back to strategize on how to facilitate the domestication of the FOIA in his state.
Ashang who was represented by Kanu Ubio, Director, of Planning Research and Statistics, Ministry of Justice, stated that immediately after the law was passed in the state they would ensure that it was properly implemented and enforced.
Also speaking, Aniefiok Dennis, Chairman of the Akwa Ibom House Committee on Information said the bill to domesticate the FOIA has been submitted to the house but would undergo necessary corrections peculiar to the state.
Rex Anighoro Senior Special Adviser, SSA, to the governor of Delta on Civic Engagement and Civil Society said more awareness was needed to enable all Nigerians to understand the FOIA.
“Government exists for the people and if the office of the citizens must be supreme, the process of engagement between both parties needs to be deepened and synergies created,” he maintained.
NAN had earlier reported that on Nov. 1, 2014, a Federal High Court in Lagos, presided over by Justice Okon Abang, ruled that the Act was not binding on the 36 states of the federation.
Abang’s ruling, however, contradicted the judgment of an Ibadan High Court sitting headed by Justice S.A. Akinteye.
The Ibadan High Court ruled in 2013, held that the application of the FoI Act was for the entire federation, therefore, “does not need to be domesticated by any state before taking effect in all states across the federation.”
While judging a suit filed by Legal Defence and Assistance Project Limited/GTE against some states of the federation over their refusal to provide some information requested under the FoI Act, Justice Abang ruled that the 36 states of the federation could not be made to provide any information based on the Act.
He asserted that the FoI Act, being an enactment of the National Assembly, was only binding on the federal government and its agencies.
Upholding that the FoI Act was neither a residual law nor was it on the concurrent list of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), His Lordship ruled that if it was the intention that the FoI Act should be binding on states, the houses of assembly of each of the 36 states of the federation should have been carried along in the process of the enactment of the law.
Justice Abang maintained that the houses of assembly of the states of the federation were empowered by the Constitution to make laws for their respective states, and not the other way round.
The Attorney General and Commissioners for Finance of Lagos, Imo, Rivers, Abia, Akwa Ibom, and Delta States were sued by the applicant over their refusal to provide information requested under the FOI Act.
The applicant had written the states requesting for information on the bonds they raised in the Capital Market.
