The Media Rights
Agenda (MRA) has called on the National Assembly to institute measures to
enforce compliance with the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act in its capacity as
the ultimate oversight body in the implementation of the Law, as the
organization marked the first year anniversary of the launch of the “FOI Hall
of Shame” reports ITRealms.
“The National Assembly itself apparently
recognized this role, which was why in making the Law, it included Section 29 (7)
and (8), requiring the Attorney-General of the Federation to report to the
National Assembly annually details regarding the implementation of the Act
during the preceding year.”
According to him, “We
consider these provisions to be consistent with international best practice in
the implementation of FOI Laws as they can give the National Assembly a good
picture of the status of compliance by the relevant public institutions with
the FOI Act and enable it to determine whether additional measures are required
to improve the implementation of the Law.”
Section 29(7) of the Act
provides that “The Attorney-General shall submit to the National Assembly an
annual report on or before April 1 of each calendar year which shall include
for the prior calendar year a listing of the number of cases arising under this
Act, the exemption involved in each case, the disposition of such cases, and
the cost, fees, and penalties assessed” while Section 29(8) stipulates that
"Such report shall also include detailed description of the efforts taken
by the Ministry of Justice to encourage all government or public institutions
to comply with this Act.”
Mr. Ojo noted that
“Although the two Attorneys-General of the Federation who have held the
position since the FOI Act was enacted in 2011 have religiously submitted their
annual reports to the National Assembly without fail, members of the National
Assembly have not acted on any of these reports over the last seven years and
there is no indication that the reports are even being read by them.”
He explained that
widespread violation of the Act led to the initiation of the FOI Hall of Shame
in July 2017 to shine the spotlight on public officials and
institutions that are undermining the effectiveness of the FOI Act through
their actions, inactions, utterances and decisions, noting that 49 inductees
have so far been named into the Hall of Shame from all the three arms of
government, namely the Legislature, the Judiciary, and the Executive.
Mr. Ojo said “most of
the inductees bagged the ‘FOI Hall of Shame’ Award owing to their obvious disregard for their duties and
obligations under the FOI Act, including their failure to submit
their annual FOI implementation reports to the Attorney-General of the
Federation on or before February 1 of each year, and failing to publish
such reports proactively either on their websites or anywhere else; their
failure to respond to requests for information made by members of the public;
their failure to train their officials on the public’s right of access to
information and equipping them with relevant skills to ensure the effective
implementation of the Act; as well as their failure to
designate appropriate officers and to publish the titles and addresses of such
officer to whom applications for information by members of the public can be
sent.”
He expressed concern that even one year after the
launch of the Hall of Shame, the 2017 Annual Report on the Implementation of the FOI Act,
submitted to the National Assembly on March 27, 2018 by the Attorney-General of
the Federation still indicated that 90 per cent of public institutions are
not complying with their reporting obligations.
Mr. Ojo called on
the Attorney-General of the Federation to explore administrative sanctions to
ensure that public institutions to which the FOI Act applies take their duties
and obligations under the Act seriously and respect the rights of Nigerians to
information, which is also a fundamental right of citizens of all countries as
established under international law.
By so doing, he said,
the Attorney-General of the Federation will be giving effect to the provisions
of Section 29(6) of the FOI Act which stipulates that “the Attorney General
shall in his oversight responsibility under this Act ensure that all
institutions to which this Act applies comply with the provisions of the Act.”
Mr. Ojo urged the Attorney-General of the Federation to solicit
the assistance of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Head
of the Civil Service of the Federation and the National Assembly in applying
appropriate pressure on all public institutions to fully implement the Act.
Nenye Dom/GEE
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