House Of Representatives Passes Freedom of Information Bill
 Nigeria’s lower legislative chamber, the House of Representatives on August 25, 2004, passed the Freedom of Information Bill with minor amendments thus bringing to an end the five-year campaign to get the House to pass it.

The process leading to the Third Reading, adoption and passage of the Bill began on August 5, 2004. At that sitting, the House began its deliberations from Section 3 and ended in Section 7, leaving out Sections 1 and 2 that deal with the Title and Interpretation.

The House amended Section 3 (1), which deals with the Right of Access to Records. It amended the section to restrict the right of access to records and information to only citizens rather than to non-citizens as well as provided for in the original Bill presented to it. It also deleted the word ‘any’ from the phrase ‘any record under the control of a government or public institution’ which appeared in the same section.

At its August 25, 2004, sitting, the House adopted with an amendment to Section 1, which deals with the title. The House amended the previous title, Freedom of Information Bill 1999 to read Freedom of Access to Information Bill 2003.

Other amendments the House made were in Sections 14 (2) and 17 (3).

Section 14 which is one of the Sections that details the grounds upon which a request for information may be refused, provides in sub-section (2) that: “However, such right to refuse the disclosure of any record requested by an applicant ceases to exist where the interest of the public in having the said record being made available to them outweighs whatever injury disclosing such records would have to the aforementioned interests.” The House amended this by adding the clause: provided that such public overriding interest is to be determined by a Court of law.

The House made a similar amendment to Section 17 (3). It provide that: “Where disclosure of any information referred to in this section would be in the public interest, and if the public interest in the disclosure of such information clearly outweighs the protection of the privacy of the individual to whom such information relates, the head of the government and/or public institution to whom a request for disclosure is made shall disclose such information.” This the House amended by adding the proviso: subject to Section 14 (2) of this Act. This implies that a court of law determines what is or constitutes public overriding interest 

In October 2004, the House officially sent a clean copy of the Bill to the Senate. It will go through three readings and a public hearing before passage at the Senate and then be transmitted to the President for assent to become a law justiceable in Nigeria.

Reacting to the passage, the Freedom of Information Coalition (FOIC) in a statement on August 26, said it welcomed the passage of the Bill by the House. The coalition noted that by passing the bill the House has demonstrated its commitments to the promotion of transparency and accountability in the governance process.

The coalition further noted that by passing the bill the House has recognised and extended an avenue to Nigerians to participate in the current democratic process through participation in policy debate, formulation, implementation and evaluation. It appealed to the Senate to follow in the right steps of the House by passing the bill within the earliest possible time. 

Other persons and groups have also commended the House for the passage of the Bill.

The nation’s human rights community hailed the passage saying a phase in the struggle for the sustenance of democracy in the country had been completed. Hon. Abdul Oroh, a member of the House and ex-executive Director of Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) said the passage of the bill was probably the happiest day of his life in the House. He expressed amazement at the speed with which the Bill passed through the Third Reading.           

Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former President of CLO said the bill was a fundamental advancement in the case of democracy. He added that the country was about to witness sunshine legislation that throws government’s business open for scrutiny. He however warned that practically, the bill may be passed and it would not work, but technically, it will open the door for citizens to seek and receive whatever information they require as of right that is justiceable.

The Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, Mr. Bukhari Bello also commended the House and called on the Senate to take a cue from the lower house. He observed that the Bill seeks to promote good governance, accountability and transparency which are essential ingredients of democracy, social and economic development. He added that the FOIB has the capacity to improve the quality of governance and build the confidence of the people in the activities of government.

Mr. Chineye Nwabueze, a Mass Communication lecturer at Anambra State University of Technology, Awka, commended the House for passing the Bill describing it as a victory for Nigerians.           

The Freedom of Information Bill, presently before the National Assembly, seeks to give citizens a legal right of access to information in possession of government officials and agencies, public institutions and/or private bodies carrying out public functions and thereby, eliminate unnecessary official secrecy. It also seeks to empower public officers to disclose public records or information without prior authorisation thereof provided it is for public interest and such officials are protected from adverse consequences flowing from such disclosure. It is guided by universally accepted principles on the right to freedom of expression. These include: Maximum disclosure; Obligation to publish; Promotion of open government; Scope of exemptions; Process to facilitate access; Costs; Disclosure takes precedence; and Protection for whistle-blowers.

Prior to the debates on the FOIB that led to its passage at the House, the promoters of the Bill led by the secretariat of the FOI Coalition, began a month-long petition writing campaign. The campaign was aimed at calling the attention of the House to the undue delay the Bill was suffering and urging the honourable members to schedule it for discussions and passage. The campaign started on August 2, and was intended to end on 27.

The plan also included sending a high powered-delegation to the leadership of the House in the last week of the petition campaign. It was one of the series of activities that the campaigners lined up and had started to implement towards getting the House to commence and expedite action on the Bill. Alongside the petition writing campaign, members of the coalition embarked on an intensive GSM text-messaging campaign targeted at members of the House of Representatives.

The Coalition also intensified its public awareness campaign to popularize the Bill among Nigerians. It trained over 50 members of civil society organizations to improve their advocacy skills and knowledge and issued them materials to intensify FOIC lobbying; meetings with individual members, committees and caucuses of the House to secure their support for the Bill and to vote massively for it whenever it was presented for the Third Reading. They also met with some ministers and presidential aides to seek their support.             

The Freedom of Information Bill was introduced at the National Assembly in 1999. It made steady progress through the lower chamber of the last Assembly undergoing the First and Second Readings as well as a public hearing before the Assembly was dissolved. The House however failed to pass the Bill.

Following the failure of the last House of Representatives to pass the Bill before the Assembly was dissolved in May 2003 the Bill was re-introduced at the new Assembly inaugurated in June 2003. It went through two Readings. The committee of the whole House referred it to the House Committees on Information, Human Rights and Judiciary, with a mandate to study the bill in greater details as well as reflect the report of the public hearing conducted by the previous House. The committees submitted a joint report to the committee of the whole House on November 5, 2003, with a recommendation that the House pass the Bill. Thus the Bill climbed the rung to the next level, the Third Reading.

Upon receiving the report, members of the House bandied various excuses for failing to hold the third reading despite having slated it for discussion on some occasions 

The current efforts to push for the enactment of a Freedom of Information Act in Nigeria began in 1999 when Media Rights Agenda (MRA) presented a draft bill to President Olusegun Obasanjo soon after his inauguration as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Media Rights Agenda expressed support for President Obasanjo’s commitment to fight corruption in Nigeria but observed then that accountability and transparency could not be possible if citizens have no right of access to information held by the State or its agencies or if no mechanism exists for giving practical effect to the right to freedom of information.

Media Rights Agenda, however, observed that accountability and transparency in Government were crucial to any meaningful anti-corruption crusade, arguing that accountability and transparency could not be possible if citizens have no right of access to information held by the State or its agencies or if no mechanism exists for giving practical effect to the right to freedom of information. It therefore requested President Obasanjo to present the draft Freedom of Information Bill to the National Assembly for consideration along with his Anti-Corruption Bill and to support efforts to secure its enactment. It therefore, requested President Obasanjo to also present the draft Freedom of Information Bill to the National Assembly for consideration and support efforts to secure its enactment.

The president merely acknowledged receipt of the draft bill but declined MRA’s request asking it to forward the draft directly to the National Assembly. He gave no commitment to support its enactment. MRA subsequently approached some members of the previous National Assembly to present it before the House.

Since then a large number of civil society organizations and government agencies have identified with the Bill and joined the campaign process to secure its enactment as an Act.                                     

The need for a specific legal right of access to public information in Nigeria arose out of the need to reduce, if not eliminate, the entrenched culture of secrecy in the conduct of public affairs and inject the virtues of transparency and accountability into the governance process so as to promote the social, political and economic growth in the nation.

This secrecy is entrenched by a plethora of administrative bottlenecks as well as legal huddles such as clauses which forbid the disclosure of information, usually under very broad “public interest” claims. Some of these include Section 168 of the Evidence Act; Section 2 of the Federal Commissions (Privileges and Immunities) Act, Cap 130, LFN, 1990: Section 10(2) of the Public Complaints Commission Act; Section 12(2) of the Architects (Registration, etc.) Act; and Section 13 of the Statistics Act, Cap 416, LFN, 1990. Other ways by which the government perpetrates secrecy are the use of Official Secrets Act and Section 97(1) of the Criminal Code. Even the courts of law are, in many cases, precluded from compelling the disclosure of such information.

Meanwhile, the scope and matters which fall under the “classified matters” category, are neither delineated and nor defined thereby putting at great risk an official who may wish to act in public interest by supplying public information at his/her disposal. The result is that civil servants have become unwilling to assist seekers of public information or give their views and opinions on public issues unless specifically authorised to do so by very senior government officials.

This regime of secrecy is clearly not in accord with Section 36(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which gives citizens rights to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.

The need for a freedom of information act has also been recognised by a number of international bodies including regional and world bodies such as the Commonwealth heads of governments and the United Nations.

The United Nations General Assembly in its resolution 59(1) at its first session of December 14, 1946, had stated that: “Freedom of information is fundamental human rights and is the touchstone of all the freedoms to which the United Nations is consecrated. Freedom of information implies the right to gather, transmit and publish news anywhere and everywhere without fetters. As such, it is an essential factor in any serious effort to promote the peace and progress of the world.” 

Subsequent human rights instruments emanating from the United Nations systems have also underscored this view in their wordings. These include Article 19(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which provides that: “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this rights shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.”

Nearer home, Part 1 of Article IV of the African Union Declaration of the Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa says: “Public bodies hold information not for themselves but as custodians of the public good and everyone has a right to access this information, subject only to clearly defined rules established by law,” and Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights provides that: “Every individual shall have the right to receive information.”

These provisions and pronouncements evidence a growing recognition, nationally and internationally, of the obligations on governments to provide information to their citizens through clearly defined legal and constitutional procedures.