MRA Targets Professional Groups in Renewed FOI Campaign

In a renewed bid to garner widespread civil society support for the campaign for a Freedom of Information Act in Nigeria, Media Rights Agenda (MRA) is targeting professional groups and associations to solicit their support and involvement in advocacy efforts for the passage of the Freedom of Information Bill into law.

Over the last three months, with support from the European Commission (EC), delegations from MRA have met with the leaders and representatives of professional associations and bodies to brief them on the status of the campaign and seek their continued support and specific commitments to assist in the process. The project is also being used to introduce the bill to professional bodies and associations that were not previously aware of the Bill and seek their support in the process for its enactment.

MRA plans to meet with over 30 of such groups from such diverse fields and sectors, including business, entertainment, law, accounting, security, banking, religion, pharmaceuticals, management, advertising, etc. to explore possibilities of collaborative projects aimed at galvanizing broad civil society pressure on the relevant institutions and authorities of government to pass the Bill into law in the shortest time possible.

MRA also hopes to reach the wider membership of the professional groups and associations to ensure greater public awareness about the Bill and improve their understanding of its content and purpose.

The organization has met with the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN), the Manufacturers Association Nigeria (MAN), the National Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industries (NACCIMA), Concerned Professionals, the Ikorodu and Ikeja branches of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks, the Lagos branch of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, and the Lagos State branch of the Nigerian Institute for Safety Professionals as well as its national leadership.

The ICSAN described the Bill as a tool for restructuring the nation, pledging to lend its support to the advocacy efforts. The Registrar of the Institute, Mr. Dele Togunde, said the task of getting the Bill passed into law should not be left to MRA and a few other organizations alone. He promised to make a formal recommendation to the council of the institute on what its role should be in the advocacy campaign, after which MRA would be invited for further consultation on how the institute can play a role.

Other professional bodies which MRA plans to meet with include the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), the Independent Broadcasters Association of Nigeria (IBAN), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), the NBA at its national level,  the Institute of Chattered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).