Senate Begins Second Reading Of The Freedom Of Information Bill

By

Osaro Odemwingie

Coordinator, Freedom of Information Coalition

ABUJA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2005: Nigeria’s upper legislative chamber, the Senate, today began debates on the Freedom of Information Bill on a controversial note, but the proceedings were inconclusive and will continue on February 22. 

The second reading of the Bill is coming 12 weeks after the first reading which took place on November 23, 2004.  There were no discussions during the first reading  as the Senate President, Senator Adolphus Wabara, merely proclaimed that: “This bill is hereby adopted as passed for First Reading,” following a reading of the title of the Bill by the Clerk of the Senate.

Today’s discussion was led by by the majority leader of the senate, Senator Dalhatu Sarki Tafida.  Introducing the Bill on the floor of the Senate, he noted that the bill is not an Executive bill but originated from and has been pass by the House of Representatives. He added that the Senate read the bill for the first time on November 23.

Senator Tafida also observed that the bill seeks to provide the following:

* A right of access to public information;

* Access to public information or records kept by government, public or private institutions carrying out public functions for citizens and non-citizens of the country;

* Increase the availability of public records and information to citizens of the country in order to participate more effectively in the making and administration of laws; and

* The promotion of accountability of public officers to the general public.

But he added that although “the intention of the sponsors of this bill may be laudable; however, I would sound a note of caution for several reasons:
 

a)        the managers of information so accessed if not properly handled could lead to serious national security crisis;
b)        there are provisions in this bill that conflict with the Official secrets Act, which is enshrined in the Constitution;
c)        our nascent democracy is at its early stages of consolidations, and a bill like this may, if not carefully scrutinized and its full implications understood may not be in our best interest;
d)        it is well and good to make all information accessible to all Nigerians, but the general provisions built into this bill may need to be further analyzed.”

Nigeria, he said, cannot afford to emulate every practice and doctrine of advanced democracies.  He remarked that the Freedom of Information Act came into effect from 1st January 2005 in the United Kingdom, after several generations and long history of democracy and governance in that country; that society is quite advanced in all facets of democracy.

Senator Tafida argued that Nigeria’s democracy was not experienced enough to pursue this type of legislation.

He concluded by saying that in his view that the committee that will handle the bill should do a thorough scrutiny and bring it in line with the realities of this legislation.

However, all the other senators who contributed to the debate disagreed with the senate leader. Among the contributors were Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, Senator Ike Ekweremadu and Senator Yari Gandi.  They drew the attention of the Senate to sections 13 to 17 as well as 19 and 20 of the Bill which provide for a range of exemptions and noted that the fears raised by Senator Tafida were unfounded.

At this point, the Senate President, Senator Wabara, who presided called a halt to the debate. Pleading that the Senate was pressed for time, he called for debate to be put off till Tuesday, February 23, 2005.

The Senate had earlier attempted to discuses the Bill yesterday, February 16, but some Senators, including the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information, Senator Tawar Wada; Senator Emma Anosike and Senator Abubakar Danso Sodangi, spoke against the move and advised the debate should wait till today when it was originally scheduled to hold. They argued that many of the senators who had indicated their interest in contributing to the debate were not present at the chambers while many members of the public who were also interested in observing the debate would miss out. The issue was put to vote and senators who wanted the  debate held today carried the day.

The Bill has been pending before the National Assembly since 1999, but was passed by the lower legislative chamber, the House of Representatives, on August 25, 2004.
 

Click here for copy of the Freedom of Information Bill as passed by the House.

Click here for copy of the Freedom of Information Bill originally sent to the House.