Third Reading: House of Representatives Throws out FOI Bill

On Tuesday, 29 April 2008, the House of Representatives threw out the Freedom of Information Bill through a technical vote jettisoning further consideration of the Bill in the Committee of the Whole (Third Reading).
 

The FOI bill was the second matter on the two-item order paper for Tuesday’s session presided over by the Deputy Speaker; Alhaji Usman Nafada.It was expected that since the order paper was not crowded as usually as was the case in the past, the lawmakers would consider the report.

But when the day’s proceedings started, Hon. Nafada asked Dabiri, one of the key sponsors of the bill, to approach the chair. The deputy speaker tried to persuade Hon. Dabiri to drop the bill for consideration on a later date. But she objected, because the House had on four previous occasions stood down bill for consideration.

At this point Hon. Nafada asked for a voice-vote and asked “Should we take this Bill in the Committee of the Whole” after which he ruled in favour of those who opposed it in a voice vote, saying, “The Nays have it.”
 

The Bill on the day’s Order Paper was listed for consideration as “A Bill for an Act to Make Public Record and Information More Freely Available, Provide for Public Access to Public Records and Information, Protect Public Records and Information to the extent consistent with the Public Interest and the Protection of Personal Privacy, Protect Serving Public Officials from Adverse Consequences for Disclosing Certain Kinds of Official Information without Authorization and Establish Procedure for the Achievement of those Purposes and Related Purposes Thereof.”

A House member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed that some members had agreed prior to the sitting to “kill the Bill.” He said: “Forget it. The Bill is dead. It has been agreed that it should be discarded for reasons that are obvious, and you know them.

“They [members] are also not comfortable with it because it is ‘Abike’s Bill’. She had long been absent from the House only to resurface today (April 29, 2008) to present the Bill.”

Mrs. Abike Dabiri, unhappy with the turn of events lamented: “I was surprised when I heard the ruling that the ‘nays’ had it, and a lot of them know we are also shocked.

“I was actually shocked. This is a Bill that if we are actually fighting corruption, we have to pass.

“It's a Bill that, maybe some people are uncomfortable with, but let’s think about the Nigerian people first.

“It is a Bill that will promote good governance, and if as a public official, you know that everything you are doing can be open to the public, and should be done properly; in fact it will make sure that we don’t get into trouble.

“Really, I don’t understand this and I hope that that won’t be the final word on the Bill because it won’t be good for the Nigerian nation.

“This is a point where we should do clause-by-clause consideration. If you don’t like a clause, you amend it or you delete it. Or you add or subtract. That is the essence of clause-by-clause consideration.

“So I am surprised that it was just thrown out of consideration by the Committee of the Whole.” she said.