Senate to Hold Public Hearing on FOI Bill on March 15
 

Senator Wada, Chair, Senate Committee on Information

 ABUJA, THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2005:  The Senate Committee on Information is planning to hold a one-day public hearing on the Freedom of Information Bill on March 15 to seek public input into the proposed law before presenting a final text to the full house.

Following the conclusion of the second reading on the Bill at the Senate on February 22, the upper house of the National Assembly referred the Bill to the Committee on Information and National Orientation for more detailed examination and recommendations ahead of the third and final reading which will take place subsequently.  The Senate gave the Committee three weeks to complete the assignment.

The Committee’s Chairman, Senator Tawar Wada announced yesterday when its members met with a delegation of the Freedom of Information Coalition that the Bill required a public hearing and outlined a time-table for it.  But he added that the time-table was subject to the availability of funds as the 2005 Appropriation Bill had only just been passed and the Committee was not certain how quickly it could get the money to organize the public hearing.

Senator Rufus Spiff, Vice Chair, Senate Committee on Information

The Committee was led at the meeting by Senator Wada (PDP, Gombe South), a former Attorney-General of Gombe State and former Chairman of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).  Other members of the Committee present at the meeting included its Vice Chairman, Senator Rufus I. Spiff (PDP, Bayelsa East), who was the Secretary to the old Rivers State Government; Senator Nshi Christopher Ucha (PDP, Ebonyi North), a former Speaker of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly; Senator Usman K. Umar (ANPP, Kano South), a former Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service; and Senator Saleh Usman Anboyi (PDP, Taraba South), a former Deputy Governor of Taraba State.

Members of the FOI Coalition delegation which visited the Committee members at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja were Mr. Edetaen Ojo, Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda (MRA); Mr. Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, law lecturer at the London School of Economics (LSE) and Africa Programme Director at the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI); Mr. Fabian Okoye, Senior Program Officer at Global Rights – Partners for Justice; Miss Mimidoo Achakpa, Executive Director of Women’s Right to Education Program (WREP);  Mr. Maxwell Kadiri, Programme Coordinator at the OSJI; Dr. Oji Ogbureke, Program Advisor on Public Finance Analysis at Actionaid International Nigeria; Miss Ene Enonche, a Project Consultant at OSJI; and  Mr. Osaro Odemwingie, Coordinator of the FOI Coalition.

Speaking on behalf of the FOI Coalition delegation, Mr. Ojo told the Senators that the purpose of the meeting was to find out what process the Committee intended to adopt in carrying out the assignment given to it by the full house and how civil society organizations could intervene in the process to add value to the work of the Committee.  He said the Coalition was anxious to know what the Committee’s plans were because it was aware that the Senate had given the Committee three weeks to complete its task and that only two weeks were now left before the deadline given to the Committee.

He added that the FOI advocates also wanted to use the opportunity to address any concerns members of the Committee or other senators might have about the Bill.

He explained that the FOI Coalition is an alliance of 136 civil society organisations and thousands of individuals across to country campaigning for the enactment of a Freedom of Information Act in Nigeria.  He said the Coalition was pleased with the support that the Committee’s chairman and some of the members had demonstrated for the Bill since it was introduced to the Senate, particularly during the second reading.

Mr. Ojo said: “In a sense, talking to the Chairman and some of the members of the Committee about the Bill is almost like preaching to the converted.  But we want to see if there are areas where there

From L to R Sen. Umar, Sen. Anboyi, Sen. Ucha, Sen.  Wada and Sen. Spiff

 are concerns and anxieties so that we can explain the rationale and principles behind these provisions and find ways of addressing the concerns.”

He said the Coalition was keen to support the Committee in its work, but wanted to be guided by members on what kind of assistance would be useful or helpful to their work.  He added that members of the Coalition had a tremendous amount of expertise on freedom of information issues, including comparative experience from different parts of the world, which they could put at the disposal of the Committee and the Senate.

Referring to a "Memorandum on the Freedom of Information Bill" submitted by the FOI Coalition delegation to the Committee, Mr. Ojo said its purpose was to explain the rationale behind some of the more important issues in the bill  in the hope that it would provide guidance to members of the Committee in their deliberations on the issues.

Senator Wada expressed the Committee’s appreciation for the commitment which the Coalition had shown towards ensuring the passage of the Bill.  He recalled that even before the Bill was passed by the House of Representatives, a delegation of the FOI Coalition had met with him to solicit his support for the Bill and had continued to engage him on it said then.

He said although an initiative as the Freedom of Information Bill ought to have come from the law-makers, they were nonetheless appreciative of the fact that members of the civil society had initiated the process and shown impressive commitment to it.  He observed that the Committee’s members were conscious of the fact that the Bill would bring about a better and more democratic Nigeria and that the present efforts by members of the Coalition and the Senate Committee were not for their own interest, but for the benefit of posterity.

Senator Wada welcomed the “consultancy services” which the Coalition was offering saying although the Committee ought to conduct research into a number of areas and issues arising from the Bill, Senators were too busy to be able to undertake such research on their own. He said the Committee would require the assistance of a consultant to help it collate the information which will be presented by members of the public during the public hearing and provide them with expert information on the subject, which he described as somewhat technical.  He therefore accepted the offer of assistance from the Coalition.

A discussion followed the comments, during which all the members of the Committee expressed strong support for the Bill and promised to support its passage.  However, while some members fully supported the underlying principle behind the Bill and all its provisions, others questioned the logic and rationale behind a number of provisions.  They called for a strengthening of the Bill in some areas.

Some of the areas include:

• The implications of the Bill for Nigeria’s democracy, including its possible negative impact on a young democracy and in the peculiar circumstances of Nigeria.

• The need to expand the scope of the Bill to ensure that it covers both government and the private sector, including multinational corporation, private companies and civil society organizations so as to ensure that the entire system is more transparent.

• The need to reduce the number of exemptions in the Bill to strengthen it.

• The implications of the Bill for some other laws such as the Official Secrets Act, the Criminal Code, etc., which have provisions prohibiting access to certain sensitive information.

A debate ensued between members of the Committee and the FOI Coalition delegation, at the end of which the FOI delegation promised to conduct further research on these areas and provide the Committee with a number of options for their consideration.

Senator Wada thereafter outlined the plan of action of the Committee.  He said the Committee would place advertisements in newspapers next week to call for memoranda from members of the public on the public hearing and formally announce the date and venue of the event.  He said members of the public would be given one week to submit memoranda to the Committee and that a one-day public hearing would subsequently be held on Tuesday, March 15, 2005.

He said after the public hearing, the Committee would set up a technical committee to review the presentations at the public hearing and put together a draft report which the Committee would finalise and submit to the Senate.