Senate Reschedules Final Reading of FOI Bill for December 20

Abuja, Wednesday, December 14, 2005: The third reading of the Freedom of Information Bill earlier billed to take place today at the upper chamber of Nigeria’s National Assembly, the Senate, has been rescheduled to Tuesday, December 20.

Senate staff said the third and final reading of the Bill was rescheduled to next week to give room for the Senate’s consideration of the Appropriation Bill following last week’s submission of the 2006 budget proposal to the National Assembly by President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information, Senator Tawar Wada, will now present the Committee’s report on the Bill for debate next Thursday.  The report incorporates the changes proposed by the Committee to the Bill passed by the House of Representatives in August last year.  The changes resulted from recommendations by stakeholders at the public hearing on the Bill organized by the Information Committee last April 26.