Advocacy for the
Passage of the Freedom of Information Bill
Letters
to President Olusegun Obasanjo and Ministers
Introducing the Freedom of Information Bill into the
National Assembly
Mediating Problems
Meetings
With Key Officials of the House of Representatives
Advocacy
Targeted at Other Members of the House of Representatives
Other
Advocacy Efforts and Activities
Media
Advocacy
Building
Civil Society Support for the Freedom of Information Bill
The First and Second Reading of the Freedom of Information
Bill
Study Tour of the United States and the United Kingdom by
Legislators
Advocacy Work at the Senate
The Crisis in the National Assembly and its Effect on the
Bill
The Third Reading of the Freedom of Information Bill
Preparations for the Public Hearing on the Bill
Letters
to Principal Officers of the House of Representatives
Advocacy for the Passage of
the Freedom of Information Bill
In keeping
with the resolution of participants at the Ota Workshop
that a Freedom of Information Act should be enacted at
the earliest possible time, Media Rights Agenda launched
an advocacy programme in mid-1999 to secure the passage
of the bill.
Letters to President Olusegun
Obasanjo and Ministers
Coincidentally, in his inaugural address on assumption
of office on May 29, 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo
identified corruption as “the greatest single bane of
our society today” and promised that under his
administration, “all rules and regulations designed to
help honesty and transparency in dealing with government
will be restored and enforced.”
In addition, shortly after the inauguration of the new
government, President Obasanjo announced his plan to
present to the National Assembly for consideration and
enactment into law, an anti-corruption Bill.
Given this
background, the climate seemed ripe to also introduce
the Freedom of Information bill to the National
Assembly. On June 10, 1999, Media Rights Agenda wrote
to President Obasanjo expressing support for his
professed commitment to fight corruption in Nigeria and
his plan to present an anti-corruption Bill to the
National Assembly.
MRA
observed that accountability and transparency in
Government were crucial to any meaningful
anti-corruption crusade, arguing that accountability and
transparency could not be possible if citizens have no
right of access to information held by the State or its
agencies or if no mechanism exists for giving practical
effect to the right to freedom of information.
It
therefore requested President Obasanjo to also present
the draft Freedom of Information Bill to the National
Assembly as an Executive Bill for consideration along
with his anti-corruption bill and support efforts to
secure its enactment into law. The request was borne
out of the organisation’s realisation that Executive
bills would usually receive more serious and urgent
consideration from the legislators than private members’
bills.
The
organisation also wrote letters to the then Minister of
Information, Chief Dapo Sarumi, and the Minister of
Justice, Mr Kanu Agabi (SAN), apprising them of the
existence of the bill, its contents and soliciting their
support for its speedy enactment into law. tc "It
therefore, requested President Obasanjo to also present
the draft Freedom of Information Bill to the National
Assembly for consideration and support efforts to secure
its enactment."
However, by a letter dated July 19,
1999, signed by his personal assistant, Mr. Ojo A.
Taiwo, President Obasanjo declined to present the
Freedom of Information bill as an Executive bill and,
instead, advised Media Rights Agenda to send the draft
directly to the National Assembly.
Similarly,
several months after its letter to the Justice Minister,
on March 29, 2000, Media Rights Agenda received another
letter dated January 20, 2000, from the Legislative
Drafting Department of the Federal Ministry of Justice,
in which reference was made to the organisation’s June
10, 1999 letter to the President. In the letter signed
on behalf of the Federal Attorney-General and Minister
of Justice by Mrs. Christie Ekweonu, she said that she
had been directed to inform Media Rights Agenda “to
properly channel your cause through the Federal Ministry
of Information which is the relevant governmental body
that regulates the practice and dissemination of
information. Your case will be duly considered if it
originates from the relevant Ministry.”
Ironically, at the time Media Rights Agenda received the
letter from the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Freedom
of Information bill had already gone through the first
and second readings before the House of Representatives
in the National Assembly and was already being
considered in greater detail by the Information
Committee of the House.
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Introducing the Freedom of Information Bill into the
National Assembly
Prior to the receipt of the July 19,
1999 letter from the President’s office, Media Rights
Agenda had began exploring other avenues for introducing
the bill to the National Assembly and had distributed
the draft bill and other relevant documents on Freedom
of Information to numerous human rights groups, other
civil society organizations and a few legislators in the
National Assembly.
Following
the receipt of the letter from the President’s
assistant, Media Rights Agenda intensified these
efforts.
At an
international conference on “Strengthening Democracy and
Good Governance Through Development of the Media in
Nigeria” organized by UNESCO from September 9 to 10,
1999, at the Ecowas Secretariat in Abuja Mr. Maxwell
Kadiri, then a legal officer at Media Rights Agenda, was
invited to make a presentation on “The Laws and Norms
Governing the Press”.
In the
course of discussions on the “Public’s Right to Know and
Public Authorities Obligations”, Mr. Kadiri spoke
extensively about the draft Freedom of Information bill
and the immense benefits it holds for both the media and
the generality of the Nigerian populace. The conference
was attended by several members of the House of
Representatives, including Honourable Tony Anyanwu and
Honourable Nduka Irabor.
After
listening to Mr. Kadiri’s presentation, Honourable
Anyanwu, in subsequent discussions with him, agreed to
act as sponsor of the Freedom of Information bill at the
House of Representatives. He then requested that a copy
of the bill be sent to him, which he would subsequently
forward to the legal drafting unit at the National
Assembly for their review and endorsement. He also
advised that the organisation should send copies of the
bill to all the members of both the House of
Representatives and the Senate. Acting on this piece of
advice from Honourable Anyanwu, Media Rights Agenda sent
copies of the bill with a covering letter to all the 469
members of the National Assembly.
With this
action, the Freedom of Information bill became the first
private member’s bill to get to the National Assembly
after its inauguration and the first civil society
organisation bill to be formally presented to the
Federal Legislature.
From the
commencement of the advocacy efforts to ensure the
enactment of the Freedom of Information bill into law by
the National Assembly, Media Rights Agenda found in
Honourable Anyanwu a staunch and tireless supporter of
the bill.
Honourable Anyanwu
gave generously of his time and energy to the process of
planning and strategising for the bill’s passage by the
National Assembly, including visiting the Lagos office
of Media Rights Agenda to hold discussions with the
Executive Director and other members of staff of the
organisation, as well as giving advice on several
occasions which the organisation found very helpful in
trying to secure the support of the legislators for the
bill.
It is also because
of Honourable Anyanwu’s advice that Media Rights Agenda
was able to tactfully avoid a major pitfall of including
in the bill any provision that would have made the
legislation fall victim to the common trend then in the
National Assembly, which was the rejection of bills on
the ground that having failed the “cost-benefit
analysis”, enacting such bills into law was not
justifiable.
Honourable
Anyanwu, on his own accord, also secured the signatures
of 23 members of the House of Representatives cutting
across all the parties, endorsing the bill and its
contents, as well as volunteering to be co-sponsors. The
legislators were Bala Kaoje, Sadiq Yar’Adua, Ibrahim G.
Abubakar, Farouk Lawan, S. O. Obande, A.M. Bulkachuwa,
Solomon Agidani, Ahmed Hassan, Abdullahi A. Gumel, P.N.
Jiya, Ita Enang, A. Malherbe, Sunny Aguebor, Bello
Abubakar, Usman Alhaji, Celestine Ughanze, Josiah B.
Gobum, F.A.U. Okeke, Olabode Mustapha, Abdullahi Matori,
Ibrahim Abdullahi, Nduka Irabor and Victor Lar.
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Mediating
Problems
Despite
the fact that Media Rights Agenda wrote and sent copies
of the bill to each of all the 469 members of the
National Assembly to solicit their support, the only
reaction the organisation got was a telephone call from
Honourable Jerry Ugokwe.
Although
this was initially disappointing, later developments
showed that the telephone call from Honourable Ugokwe
would have great significance for further legislative
advocacy activity regarding the Freedom of Information
bill at the National Assembly. In essence, the act of
sending copies of the bill to all legislators had
already yielded significant dividend.
Honourable
Ugokwe’s telephone call centred primarily on his concern
that the Freedom of Information bill, which at this time
was now being sponsored in the House of Representatives
by Honourable Anyanwu, leading 23 other co-sponsors, was
similar in its essence to another bill that he
(Honourable Ugokwe) was also presenting to the House.
Honourable Ugokwe explained that he had been working
independently of the efforts of Media Rights Agenda and
its partners to prepare and present to the House a bill
on Freedom of Information based on his experience in the
United States, where he studied and had lived for many
years, of the importance of a freedom of information
legislation.
Media
Rights Agenda then realised that this development was
responsible for the delay in the gazetting of the bill
sponsored by Honourable Anyanwu and the other
legislators in the House of Representatives and the lack
of progress of the bill through the legal drafting
department of the National Assembly.
There were
divergent opinions from senior officials within the
administrative structure at the National Assembly on
which of the two draft bills should be cleared for
gazetting by the Federal Government printers. The
gazetting of a bill is a crucial stage for any bill
entering the legislative process as all bills being
considered by any of the chambers of the National
Assembly must first be gazetted before it can be
presented for the first reading.
In an
effort to resolve this stalemate, a meeting was
scheduled between Honourable Ugokwe and officials of
Media Rights Agenda at his Lagos home in Ikoyi. The
meeting was attended by Honourable Ugokwe, Mr Edetaen
Ojo, Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda; Miss
Josephine Izuagie, the Vice Chair; and Mr Kadiri.
The
primary focus of the meeting was how both sides could
work together to ensure the speedy enactment of a
Freedom of Information Act by the National Assembly.
Honourable
Ugokwe gave an account of how his interest in the
concept of freedom of information began since his school
days in the United States, where he was able to access
certain information contained in public documents held
by certain institutions in the US government, using the
American Freedom of Information Act.
This
development, according to him, fired his resolve when he
returned home, to push for the enactment of a similar
law in Nigeria if he ever got elected into the National
Assembly. It was this desire, which he was now set to
actualise with his draft Freedom of Information bill.
Mr. Ojo
leading the team from Media Rights Agenda, explained
that both sides had basically the same objective – that
of ensuring the enactment of a Freedom of Information
Act in Nigeria. He recounted the rich history behind
the civil society movement that was clamouring for the
enactment of a Freedom of Information Act in the country
and the extensive consultations that had gone into the
production of a final draft of the bill. He stressed
that this background would give greater legitimacy to
the bill as it would be seen to have emerged through a
process of discussions and debates, which any
legislation of such import and magnitude ought to have.
At the end
of the meeting, both parties exchanged copies of their
different drafts of the bills, with an agreement that
they separately study or review the contents of both
documents, identify all areas of similarities and
differences with a view to exploring the possibility of
harmonising the contents of both documents. The
objective was to produce a single draft Freedom of
Information bill which would retain the critical areas
in each draft. The meeting adjourned to reconvene a week
later at the same venue.
After a
review of the draft produced by Honourable Ugokwe, it
was apparent that it was a wholesale adoption of the US
Freedom of Information Act to the extent of containing
expressions and references to institutions and
procedures that were alien to the Nigerian legal system and government
structures.
Besides,
except for the provision dealing with the issue of fees
to be paid by applicants requesting for information,
which was a lot more elaborate in Honourable Ugokwe’s
draft bill than the provisions contained in the draft
being put forward by Media Rights Agenda, the civil
society bill was clearly more robust in content and more
relevant to the needs of the local Nigerian environment,
apparently because it was “home grown”.
At two
subsequent meetings, where MRA’s team was led by Miss
Izuagie, in the absence of Mr Ojo, it was fairly easy to
convince Honourable Ugokwe of this fact and to secure
his agreement to work with Media Rights Agenda. The
final bill that emerged from the harmonisation
discussions between both parties was essentially a
retention of the original civil society draft which
included the more elaborate provisions relating to fees
payable by applicants originally contained in Honourable
Ugokwe’s draft bill.
Despite
this resolution, the bill was shortly after again
enmeshed in another round of controversy, this time
concerning who was to be the lead sponsor of the new
“consensus” bill. Unfortunately, Media Rights Agenda was
not aware of this development for a long time as none of
the two parties involved, i.e. Honourable Anyanwu and
Honourable Ugokwe, informed officials of Media Rights
Agenda about this issue.
In the
course of trying to ensure that the bill was quickly
gazetted and listed in the order paper of the House of
Representatives for consideration, officials of Media
Rights Agenda had paid a series of advocacy visits to
the National Assembly and developed a rapport with both
legislators and members of the administrative staff of
the House of Representatives. It was in the course of
one of such advocacy visits that MRA became aware of
this fresh stalemate.
The then
Deputy Clerk of the House of Representatives, Mr Yemi
Ogunyomi, who had developed a close working relationship
with officials from Media Rights Agenda, revealed the
reason for the lack of progress of the bill and
suggested that MRA should organise a fence-mending
meeting between the principal actors to the stalemate to
resolve the issue so that progress could be made.
Mr.
Ogunyomi subsequently assisted in arranging the meeting,
which took place in his office at the National Assembly
complex in Abuja, and facilitated the attendance of
Honourable Nduka Irabor, and Honourable Ugokwe. Although
Honourable Anyanwu was unable to attend the meeting,
Honourable Irabor promised to communicate the decision
of the meeting to him and prevail on him to abide by
it. The meeting was also attended on MRA’s side by Mr.
Ojo, Miss Izuagie and Mr. Kadiri.
It was
agreed at the meeting that there should be three lead
sponsors for the bill, namely Honourable Ugokwe,
Honourable Anyanwu and Honourable Irabor. It was also
agreed that whatever misgivings had previously existed
between Honourable Anyanwu and Honourable Ugokwe
regarding who takes precedence over the other as the
lead sponsor of the bill, should be laid to rest.
Honourable Irabor promised to ensure that the problem
was permanently resolved. He also promised to deploy
his vast media experience to see that the bill had a
smooth ride through the National Assembly.
Following
the successful resolution of the problem, activities
geared towards ensuring the enactment of the bill into
law took on renewed vigour. With the support of Mr.
Ogunyomi, the gazetting of the bill was done speedily
and it was published in Federal Government’s Official
Gazette, No. 91, Volume 86.
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Meetings With
Key Officials of the House of Representatives
An
important starting point for members of Media Rights
Agenda in the advocacy for the Freedom of Information
bill was to meet with key officers of the House of
Representatives.
On
December 1, 1999, Mr. Ojo led a three-person delegation
from Media Rights Agenda, comprising Miss Izuagie and
Mr. Kadiri, on a courtesy visit to the National Assembly
to meet with principal officers of the House of
Representatives and solicit their support for the bill.
As the Speaker Honourable Umar Ghali Na’Abba, was then
out of the country, the delegation had a formal meeting
with the Acting Speaker, Honourable Chibudom Nwuche, and
scores of other influential members of the House. Other
members of the House in attendance included Honourable
Anyanwu and Honourable Irabor (two of the three sponsors
of the bill), Honourable Chidi Duru, Honourable Mao
Ohuabunwa and Honourable Samuel Onazi Obande.
Mr.
Ojo told the Acting Speaker and other members of the
House present at the meeting that they were in Abuja to
solicit the support of members of the House for the
enactment of the bill, which was already before the
House. He said MRA and its
other partners were keenly interested in the Bill as
they believe that it will aid transparency and
accountability in government as well as ensure public
participation in the political process.
Mr. Ojo
noted that the Executive arm of the Federal Government
had repeatedly stated its commitment to these principles
and the passage of the bill would facilitate the
actualisation of this commitment.
He said
the idea of a Freedom of Information Act appeared to
enjoy popular support although there had been a little
apprehension expressed about what use the media would
put such an Act to.
But Mr.
Ojo argued that such apprehension was unjustified as the
proposed Act was not primarily for the media, but for
the society at large, especially at a period when the
Government was talking about transparency and
accountability, anti-corruption and political
participation.
Besides,
he said, studies worldwide had shown that the
parliamentarians in different countries around the
world, which have freedom of information laws, put them
to use far more than the media as it provides them with
an additional avenue for getting information about the
activities of the Executive arm of government.
He
presented the Acting Speaker with documents outlining
the international guiding principles of freedom of
information laws and MRA’s interest in the bill.
Responding, Honourable Nwuche said the bill could not
have come at a more timely moment and promised that it
would be passed into law within the shortest time
possible. He
said the House was committed to promoting transparency
and accountability in governance and that although
members of the House already have unlimited access to
government-held information, they wanted to make this
benefit available to the generality of Nigerians, whose
right it is to also enjoy the prerogative of access to
government-held information to enable them play a
meaningful role in upholding and entrenching democratic
principles.
Later that
day, Media Rights Agenda also sought the permission of
the Chairman of the House Committee on Information,
Honourable Uche Maduako, to meet formally with him and
members of the Committee, during their meeting, which
was scheduled for that same day. Honourable Maduako
initially agreed, however when the MRA delegation sought
to brief the members during the meeting, some of
them objected on the ground that it was
inappropriate for the MRA officials to attend that
particular meeting of the Committee because, according
to them, the notice given to the Committee through the
Chairman was too short.
They
therefore suggested that Media Rights Agenda should make
a formal application to the Committee to meet with it
after which a date for the meeting would be communicated
to the organisation.
The
rationale behind the attempt to meet with the
Information Committee members ahead of when the bill is
eventually referred to them by the entire House, was
based on the need to provide a soft landing for the
bill, by already explaining the content to the committee
members as well as responding to any questions that the
members might have, including providing clarification on
any grey areas where necessary. However, although the
meeting could not take place, the attempt had not been a
waste of time as it provided a linkage for future
interaction between the Information Committee members
and officials of Media Rights Agenda. This linkage
proved useful when the Committee of the whole House
eventually referred the bill to the Information
Committee.
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Advocacy
Targeted at Other Members of the House of
Representatives
Representatives of Media Rights Agenda carried out
numerous advocacy visits to the National Assembly for
several months meeting with individual members of the
House of Representatives and later the Senate.
In the
main, the advocacy visits were in the form of
door-to-door enlightenment campaigns targeted at members
of the House of Representatives, both in their offices
in the National Assembly in Abuja and in some other
parts of the country, and at their homes in the Apo
Legislative Quarters in Abuja. This exercise gave MRA
officials the opportunity to interact with as many of
the legislators, as possible, on the issue of the bill
and to address whatever concerns or reservations they
had.
Building
on this strong rapport which Media Rights Agenda had
established with members of the House, representatives
of the organisation held discussions with officials of
both the Rules and Business Committee of the House,
which was then chaired by Honourable Musa Elayo (who is
now the Minister of State in the Federal Ministry of
Justice) and the then Deputy Clerk of the House of
Representatives, Mr Ogunyomi, to facilitate a speedy
scheduling of the bill for its first and second reading.
This helped in a large measure in ensuring that the
initial hearings on the bill were done timeously.
After
undertaking several advocacy visits to the National
Assembly, MRA realised that it would be extremely
difficult to meet with all the members of the National
Assembly through such one on one meetings especially
because the window for such meetings was often very
narrow as members usually had series of other
engagements during intervals between their sitting
period at the National Assembly and the period they left
for home or other activities.
There was,
thus, the need to devise ways of meeting with a large
number of the members in one venue to plead the cause of
the bill.
Besides,
in the course of some of the one on one discussions with
the legislators, there were veiled hints on the need to
embark on “financial lobbying”. Media Rights Agenda had
neither the resources nor the inclination to go down
this route. But it faced a serious dilemma as the first
reading of bill was fast approaching and not much ground
had been covered in terms of having effective one on one
discussions with a large majority of the members of the
House.
In trying
to navigate this problem, Honourable Ugokwe then advised
that the organisation should consider organising a
function for all the legislators at which issues
concerning the bill would be discussed in a relaxed and
informal environment.
Acting on
this advice and ahead of the scheduling of the bill for
first reading, Media Rights Agenda, with support from
ARTICLE 19, organised a cocktail reception for members
of the House of Representatives. The event took place
in the evening of February 16, 2000 at the Ladi Kwali
Hall of the Abuja Sheraton Hotel and Towers. It was
attended by about 250 legislators, led by the Deputy
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable
Nwuche, who was the special guest of honour. Present to
receive their colleagues at the event were two of the
lead sponsors of the bill, Honourable Anyanwu and
Honourable Ugokwe, as well as the then Chair of the
Information Committee, Honourable Maduako.
The team
from Media Rights Agenda was led by Mr Tunde Fagbohunlu,
the Director of Legal Services. Other members of the
team included two Executive Committee members, Miss
Izuagie and Mr Austin Agbonsuremi, as well as three
staff members: Mr. Osaro Odemwingie, Publications
Officer; Miss Adeola Ademola and Mr. Kadiri, both legal
officers.
The event
lasted for about two hours and provided a highly
interactive platform for the legislators and MRA
personnel to discuss issues relevant to the bill and its
enactment. Representatives of Media Rights Agenda used
the occasion to further explain the principles behind
the bill and to impress on the legislators the need for
its speedy passage.
In a
welcome address, Mr. Fagbohunlu said Media Rights Agenda
was proud of the working relationship it had established
with the legislators on the project. He expressed the
hope that the bill will eventually get the endorsement
of the House.
In his
speech at the occasion, Hon. Maduako pledged the
Information Committee’s commitment to ensuring
transparency and accountability in governance and its
members’ belief in the indispensability of access to
government information in achieving these objectives. He
assured the gathering that members of the House were
favourably disposed towards the bill.
Honourable
Anyanwu also made a commitment to continue to work
towards the enactment of the bill, saying that his
commitment was informed by a personal desire to promote
accountability and a belief that the media is best
placed to ensure this.
Other
speakers at the event agreed that accountability in
governance could not be guaranteed in the absence of a
freedom of information regime and therefore pledge
unflinching support for the enactment of the bill into
law.
Thereafter, the legislators and MRA representatives
present broke into small informal groups where further
discussions on issues in the bill went on as the
reception progressed.
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Other Advocacy
Efforts and Activities
Seminar on
the ‘Freedom of Information Act in Nigeria’
The
Seminar on the Freedom of Information Act in Nigeria was
organized by the Media For Democracy (MFD) project,
comprising Media Rights Agenda, the Independent
Journalism Centre (IJC), Journalists for Democratic
Rights (JODER) and the International Press Centre (IPC),
in conjunction with the Nigeria Union of Journalists.
The Seminar was held from December 16 to 18, 1999 at
Gombe Jewel Hotel in Kaduna.
The objective
of the seminar was to facilitate a better understanding of
the content of the bill by journalists who would be among
the principal users and seek, through them, to engender
greater public awareness of the bill and the relevant
issues. It was also aimed at emphasizing the overall
importance of the bill to civil society and how it could
promote transparency and accountability and contribute to
the overall development of the country.
The
participants were mainly journalists from print and
broadcast media houses in the northern part of Nigeria. In
all, 22 journalists attended the seminar which had eight
sessions of paper presentation, lectures and group
discussions. Topics and issues addressed at the seminar
ranged from the theoretical, analytical to the professional.
The various sessions were facilitated by lawyers,
journalists and member of the National Assembly.
In a
resolution at the end of the seminar, the participants
commended the Media For Democracy group for organizing the
seminar and also praised members of the National Assembly,
particularly the sponsors of the bill in the House of
Representatives, for their interest and support for the
Bill.
The
participants noted that President Obasanjo’s promise to run an open transparent
administration and fight corruption would remain a dream
because accountability and transparency in government would
not be possible if the government’s books are not open to
members of the public, including the media.
They observed
that the Code of Conduct for Ministers issued by President
Obasanjo to members of his Cabinet as well as the Code of
Conduct for Public Officers contained in the Fifth Schedule
to the 1999 Constitution would be meaningless and
unenforceable if citizens have no right of access to
information held by the State or its agencies and if no
mechanism exists for giving practical effect to the right of
freedom of information.
They argued
that all over the world, a strong feature of a responsible
and responsive government is its ability to enable the
citizens and interested individuals to know the happenings
in government and that information is not just a necessity,
but an essential part of good governance.
They asked
that Nigerians should put pressure on the National Assembly
and the Federal Government to enact a Freedom of Information
Act by asking legislators to support the bill and by
prevailing on President Obasanjo to give his assent to the
bill when it comes to him for signature, as a mark of his
administration’s commitment to transparency and
accountability in governance.
The
participants noted that the Nigerian press has an important
role to play in ensuring that the bill is passed into law by
enlightening the government and members of the public on its
relevance to the sustenance of the various democratic
structures. They also asked the press to ensure the
enactment of the bill by focusing on the issues involved in
order to generate the necessary public opinion which will
further pressurize members of the National Assembly into
supporting the bill and passing it into law.
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World Press
Freedom Day Workshop on Freedom of Information Act
On
May 3, 2000, Media Rights Agenda organized a workshop on the
Freedom of Information Act in Nigeria, in collaboration with
the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Lagos, the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) and the Nigerian Television Authority
(NTA) Channel 10.
The one day
workshop, which was held as part of activities to mark that
year’s World Press Freedom Day, took place at the Peninsula
Resort Centre, Ajah, in Lagos State. The
principal objective of the workshop was to formulate a plan
of action to push for the enactment of the Freedom of
Information bill and the outcome was expected to give
impetus to the campaign to sensitize legislators and
concerned citizens in Nigeria that peace and security can
only be built through legal instruments that ensure
transparency and accountability in governance.
About 72
participants representing UN agencies in Nigeria, the media,
the legal profession, human rights organizations, the
Legislature, the Judiciary, academic institutions and
international human rights organizations attended the
workshop.tc
The brief
opening ceremony was chaired by Mr. Lanre Arogundade,
Co-ordinator of the International Press Centre in Lagos. He
was supported by Mr. Finjap Njinga, Director of the United
Nations Information Centre (UNIC); Mr. Emmanuel Apea, UNESCO
Director; Mr. Tive Denedo, Acting Executive Director of
Media Rights Agenda; Mr. Mohammed Sani Umar, Chief Public
Affairs Officer of the National Human Rights Commission;
Honourable Ajishola Owoseni, Chairman of Olorunda Local
Government Council in Osun State, and Mrs. Dupe
Ajayi-Gbadebo, a veteran journalist.
In a welcome
address, Mr. Denedo, reminded participants of the burden
that secrecy has foisted on the nation, saying that one way
of guaranteeing the development of the country is for the
government to be transparent, open and accountable through
the enactment and implementation of the Freedom of
Information Act.
In his
remarks, Mr. Njinga said African States and governments
should be encouraged to enact and enforce national laws that
ensure transparency. He said the UN supports efforts of the
media to consolidate the positive changes taking place on
the continent and would encourage genuine intervention to
promote divergent views in the compressed global village.
In a joint
statement by Mr. Kofi Annan, UN Secretary–General; Mr.
Koichiro Matsuura, the Director-General of UNESCO; and Mrs.
Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which
was read by Mr. Apea, the UN officials noted the relevance
of press freedom to transparency, good governance and the
rule of law. They asked all states to ratify the relevant
international human rights instruments and scrutinise their
domestic legal systems with a view to bringing them in line
with international standards governing the right to freedom
of opinion and expression.tc
"In a joint statement by Mr. Kofi Annan, UN
Secretary–General; Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, Director -General
of UNESCO, and Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights, which was read by Mr. Apea, the UN officials noted
the relevance of press freedom to transparency, good
governance and the rule of law. They asked all states to
ratify the relevant international human rights instruments
and scrutinise their domestic legal systems with a view to
bringing them into line with international standards
governing the right to freedom of opinion and expression."
The participants rose
from the workshop with a 10-point communiqué and an eight
point plan of action that should improve the advocacy
efforts for the enactment of the bill into law.
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Advocacy Visits to Government
Departments by the National Human Rights Commission
In March 2003, the
National Human Rights Commission, working with
representatives of civil society organisations, also carried
out advocacy visits to key Federal Government departments
and agencies in Abuja asking them to support the passage of
the bill into law.
The weeklong
programme of advocacy visits embarked upon by the Commission
began on March 24, with a visit to the management of the
National Orientation Agency (NOA).
Mr. Tony
Iredia, the Director-General of the Agency and his team of
executive directors received members of the advocacy team,
led by the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights
Commission, Mr. Bukhari Bello; and which included MRA’s
Maxwell Kadiri; Mr. Mike Aruleba of the African Independent
Television and RayPower Radio; Mr. Eze Anaba, Deputy News
Editor of the Vanguard newspaper and a board member
of MRA; Mr. Wale Fapohunda, managing partner of the Legal
Resources Consortium; and Mr. Tony Ojukwu, also of the
Commission.
Mr. Bello told
the NOA officials that the advocacy team was at the Agency
to solicit their support for the passage of the bill and
expressed the hope that they would use their medium to
disseminate information on the bill and sensitise the
Executive, members of the National Assembly and the
generality of Nigerians on the need for the bill to be
passed into law.
This, he said,
would facilitate the realization of the country’s dream of
having a corruption-free society, where qualitative
governance reigns.
Responding,
Mr. Iredia pledged the support of his Agency in seeing to
the realization of the objective and offered the services of
the Agency’s officers in all the local government areas of
the country to assist in disseminating the message contained
in the bill to Nigerians all over the country.
The advocacy
visits continued the next day when the team met with
officials of the Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria
(BON), the Voice of Nigeria (VON); and the Federal Ministry
of Information and National Orientation.
They were
received by the Executive Secretary of BON, Mr. Osita Nweke,
other top officials of VON and the Ministry of Information
who expressed strong support for the initiative on the bill
and pledged their willingness to assist in ensuring that the
present National Assembly passes the bill into law.
A roundtable
discussion session with the public sector on the bill was
held on March 26. Those in attendance included Mrs. Maryam
Uwais, a lawyer and wife of the Chief Justice of the
Federation; Dr. Nana Tanko, country coordinator for the Open
Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA); Mr. Godwin
Omole, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Press Council,
and Mr. Bello.
Mr. Kadiri
presented a lead paper for discussion at the roundtable
session which centred on the theme: “The Context and Content
of the Freedom of Information Bill, Which Way Forward.” The
presentation was then followed by a panel discussion.
The advocacy
visits continued on March 27, when the team met with the
Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice,
Mr. Kanu Agabi (SAN), as well as officials of the Federal
Ministry of External Affairs.
At both
meetings, the officials said they appreciated the need for
the bill and expressed their support for it. They, however,
expressed some reservation about what they called the “wide
powers” given by the bill to the media, whose conduct, they
claimed, had not been above reproach.
Members of the
advocacy team explained to them that the bill was not for
the media alone but for the generality of Nigerians, arguing
that it was crucial for the nation’s emancipation from the
shackles of corruption and other corruption-related vices.
Freedom of Information Coalition Meeting with Editors and
Political Correspondents
In March 2003, the
Freedom of Information Coalition launched a new phase in its
campaign to secure the enactment of the bill into law by
seeking to introduce the issue into the electioneering
campaigns.
Members of the
Coalition met in Lagos firstly with editors from the print
and broadcast media and subsequently with political
correspondents, soliciting their assistance in making the
enactment of the bill an electoral campaign issue.
The meetings with
editors and political correspondents were organized in the
context of the electioneering campaigns towards the 2003
general elections. The main purpose of the meetings was to
solicit the support of journalists in ensuring that
politicians contesting elections into various offices were
required to make public statements on their position on the
twin issues of transparency and accountability in
government, and also make a commitment to support the
efforts to enact the Freedom of Information bill into law.
The meeting
with the editors was organized
by MRA, on behalf of the Coalition, in collaboration with
the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), one of the earliest bodies to endorse
the campaign for the freedom of information law in Nigeria.
It was held at the Lagos Airport Hotel in Ikeja.
The meeting
was attended by the President of the NGE, Mrs. Remi Oyo, and
editors from some major media establishments. Members of
the Coalition present included Mr. Ojo; Mr. Sola Isola,
Executive Director of the Independent Journalism Centre
(IJC); Mr. Lanre Arogundade, Coordinator of the
International Press Centre (IPC); and Mr. Osaro Odemwingie,
Coordinator of the Freedom of Information Coalition.
In an opening
address, Mr. Ojo informed the participants that the meeting
was necessitated by the need to continue to mobilize support
for the enactment of the bill. Tracing its history, he
explained that it was one of the very first bills to be sent
to the National Assembly at the inception of this government
and expressed disappointment at the failure of the National
Assembly to pass it after nearly four years, despite the
widespread public support for it.
He requested
the editors to consider impressing it on their political
correspondents and reporters to constantly ask politicians
to state their positions on the issue of access to public
record, which is at the heart of accountability and
transparency. He noted that in this way, politicians would
be sensitized to the existence of the bill and forced to
make a commitment to support efforts towards its passage
when they assume office.
In her
address, Mrs. Oyo noted that the Guild was very much in
support of the advocacy for the enactment of the bill into
law, explaining that the support of the Guild stemmed from
its belief that a Freedom of Information regime will not
only serve to strengthen the media, but would also help in
consolidating Nigeria’s democracy.
Following
discussions at the meeting, a 17-point agreement was reached
by the participants on how to further the campaign for the
enactment of the Bill into law.
Some of the
agreements include that more professional bodies and
associations cutting across all sectors of the society
should be encouraged to become involved in the campaign for
the enactment of the bill and possibly join the coalition;
that journalists would make it a point of duty to use every
opportunity to ask politicians to state their positions on
the issue of transparency and accountability in government
in general and specifically on the enactment of the bill
into law.
The meeting
with political editors and correspondents, held at the Lagos
Travel Inn in Ikeja, followed a similar pattern.
The meeting
was attended by scores of political correspondents and
reporters from some major media establishments. Members of
the Coalition present also included Mr. Ojo, Mr. Isola, Mr.
Arogundade, Mr. Odemwingie; and Ms. Lilian Ekeanyanwu,
National Coordinator of the Zero Corruption Coalition (ZCC)
Mr. Ojo
observed that although it took the National Assembly less
than three months to initiate and conclude a process of
drafting and passing a new Independent Corrupt Practices and
Other Related Offences Act to replace the existing one, the
same National Assembly had neglected for nearly four years
to pass the Freedom of Information Bill despite the public
support for it.
He explained
the efforts so far made to secure the enactment of the bill
into law and requested the political correspondents and
reporters to constantly ask politicians to state their
positions on the issue of access to public record.
At the end of
the meeting, many of the journalist participants made
commitments to work towards the enactment of the bill into
law. A 17-point agreement was also reached, many of them
similar to those reached at the meeting with editors.
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Freedom of Information Coalition Letters to the 30 Political
Parties
The Freedom of
Information Coalition, acting through its secretariat at
Media Rights Agenda, wrote to the chairmen and secretaries
of all the political parties as well as their presidential
candidates early in April 2003 asking them to make the
campaign to secure the right of Nigerians to have access to
public records and information a cardinal policy of their
parties and asking them to support the enactment of the
Freedom of Information bill into law
The letters,
signed by MRA’s Executive Director, Mr. Ojo, explained that
the Coalition believed that the existence of such a
legislation was crucial to entrenching a culture of
transparency and accountability in government and in
ensuring effective public participation in the democratic
process.
He expressed
the hope that the party officials and their presidential
candidates would work towards ensuring that the right of
Nigerians to have access to public records and information
becomes a cardinal policy of their parties and that they
would make a clear and unequivocal commitment to support the
enactment of the Bill into law.
MRA also
provided the parties and their candidates with materials on
access to information, including copies of the bill, a
series of documents giving background information to the
bill and a document entitled “The Public’s Right to Know”,
published by ARTICLE 19, which sets out the ways in which
governments can achieve maximum openness in line with the
best international standards and practices.
Mr. Ojo urged
them to share the information and documents with other
members of their parties.
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Media Advocacy
Media
campaigns have been a crucial aspect of the advocacy
programme. They include visits to media houses to meet with
journalists, editors and columnists to solicit support for
the campaign through the publication of articles, editorial
comments and stories on the freedom of information issue;
issuing periodic press releases to highlight developments on
the issues; granting of press interviews on the issue;
facilitating publication of feature stories and opinion
articles. Media Rights Agenda produced briefing packs for
journalists containing materials and information about the
bill and freedom of information issues generally.
As a result of these efforts, several
newspapers have published editorial comments in support of
the bill. Others have published news and feature articles,
opinion articles, and other reports on the bill. The text
of the bill has also been published in full in several
newspapers as paid advertisements in order to ensure
widespread awareness about the bill and its content.
Apart from
scores of articles on the Bill that have appeared in many
newspapers and magazines, there has also been an impressive
use of the broadcast media to sensitise the Nigerian people
on the bill and the principles behind it.
Many radio and
television stations have held numerous discussion and other
programmes where guests have appeared to promote the Bill
and explain the principles behind it.
Some of the
broadcast station in which MRA personnel, collaborating
partners and other guests have appeared to promote the bill
and explain its principles include the African Independent
Television (AIT) both in Lagos and Abuja, in its Kaakaki
programme, a popular breakfast programme; the sister radio
stations, RayPower 1 and 2, Minaj Broadcasting International
television (MBI), the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA)
Channel 10 in its Morning Ride programme, another breakfast
programme; the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria in
Kaduna; the NTA in Kaduna; Murhi International Television
(MiTV) in Lagos; Radio Lagos, Degue Broadcasting Network
(DBN) television in Lagos, Channels Television in Lagos,
etc.
The primary
purpose of the media campaigns has been to keep the issue
alive in the public domain and create a ground swell of
public opinion in favour of a regime of access to
information to act as a further pressure for legislative
action by the National Assembly.
However, a
major challenge in the media advocacy programme has been how
to sustain media interest on the issue having regard to the
nature of the media which has a tendency to lose interest in
an issue once it has been reported a few times. This
challenge was heightened in periods when there were no
developments on the bill within the National Assembly or
when there was a lull in other advocacy activities. During
such periods, the media found it difficult to publish
anything on the bill, as it did not want to be merely
repeating previous news items.
This problem
was of critical importance because regardless of all other
strategies that could be adopted to spread the word about
the bill, the fact remained that as a means of mass
communication, the media was still the most effective tool
for reaching the widest number of people.
In its
consultations with journalists and other partners in the
campaign for the enactment of the bill, Media Rights Agenda
constantly sought advice on the issue. Various strategies
were proposed including suggestions that further workshops
and seminars should be organized for journalists, especially
those from outside Lagos, so that they can be better
educated and enlightened about the bill and the philosophy
behind it; those campaigning for the enactment of the bill
should regularly pay courtesy visits to various newspapers
and magazines to meet with their editorial boards to discuss
the bill with them and to appeal to them to focus on the
bill in their columns.
.
Other
suggestions were that Media Rights Agenda should liaise with
members of the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria
(NPAN) to request them to donate space in their newspapers
and magazines for messages on the bill urging the National
Assembly to pass it; initiating a signature collection
campaign targeted at journalists in addition to members of
the society who support the passage of the bill; and
formation of a body charged with coordinating the effort to
popularize the bill among journalists.
While some of
the suggestions achieved some results or had such potential,
others could only bring very limited success despite the
cost of undertaking them. For instance, given the huge
number of journalists in Nigeria, it was not feasible to
attempt to reach a sizeable number of journalists through
seminars and workshops, which would in any event, be very
expensive to organize. The challenge therefore remains a
live one.
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Production and
Dissemination of Campaign Materials on Freedom of
Information
In August
2000, with funding support from the International Human
Rights Law Group, Media Rights Agenda printed campaign
materials aimed at creating awareness and soliciting public
support for the Freedom of Information Bill. MRA printed
30,000 colour posters, 50,000 handbills titled: “What You
Should Know About the Freedom of Information Bill”, and
4,000 copies each of three different types of colour
stickers.
The posters
contained messages promoting the values and benefits of an
open and transparent government to the democratic process
and the economy. The handbills gave highlights of the bill,
explaining in more detail its content, purpose and
benefits. It contained information about the bill such as
“What is the Freedom of Information Bill?” “Current State of
Access to Information in Nigeria”, ‘Benefits of the Freedom
of Information Bill”, “Who Can Benefit?” “How Can Nigerians
Support the Bill?” etc. It provided contact information for
members of the National Assembly, advising members of the
public to write to their representatives in the National
Assembly or telephone them with a request that they pass the
bill. The stickers contained messages of support for the
bill and transparency in governance generally.
The materials
were distributed in major cities in southeastern, south
western and the northern part of the country.
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Building Civil
Society Support for the Freedom of Information Bill
Another major
challenge in the advocacy for the enactment of the bill has
been how to broaden the constituency for support for the
campaign, especially among civil society organisations. A
number of initiatives were undertaken to achieve this
objective. Although there is now heightened awareness among
non-governmental organisations and other civil society
organisations about the bill and expressions of support for
the campaigns, it has still not been possible to get such
organisations to initiate independent projects and
activities around the campaign. Only a few partner
organisations have taken the initiative to embark on
follow-up activities or sought to introduce Freedom of
Information public enlightenment components and campaigns
into their core projects and activities.
There has also
been very little success in getting members of the public to
become more involved and active in the campaign for the
enactment of the bill despite a range of efforts and
activities, including the media campaigns, the printing of
stickers, posters and handbills which were designed to
remove the campaign from an elitist plane, as well as the
efforts to get the business community to sign on to the
initiative. These activities have not yielded the level of
results that had been expected.
Activities
undertaken by Media Rights Agenda and other partner
organisations in the attempt to build or strengthen civil
society support for the bill and the campaign have included:
Advocacy
Training Seminar
An Advocacy
Training Seminar was held for representatives of civil
society organisations across the country at Amana Suites in
Abuja from September 10 to 13, 2000. The purpose of the
seminar was to improve the capacity of civil society
organisations to engage the legislative process to ensure
that the bill is passed. It was expected that following the
seminar, efforts would be intensified by civil society
organisations to push for the passage of the bill, although
a secondary objective was an expectation that the knowledge
and skills acquired at the seminar would assist the
participating organisations in other advocacy efforts and
activities.
The seminar
was attended by 31 persons representing 21 organisations.
The International Human Rights Law Group, which funded the
training, also brought three international experts on
freedom of information issues from Europe and the United
States to conduct the training.
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