Senate passes Freedom of Information Bill

From Alifa Daniel, Abuja

The Guardian, Thursday, November 16, 2006

AFTER nearly six years it was initiated, the Senate yesterday passed the Freedom of Information Bill.

The bill now awaits harmonisation between the House of Representatives and Senate and then the signature of President to become law. When the law becomes operational, it will be binding for government business to be open to the public.

Under the law, any government official that willfully destroys or attempts to doctor government records, which has been applied for public scrutiny, stands the risk of being jailed.

And for a job well done, the Senate President, Ken Nnamani, yesterday gave kudos to the Senate Adhoc Committee, headed by Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) for the professional way it handled the bill. The Adhoc Committee was given the job of fine-tuning the bill after the Committee on Information worked on it.

Other members of the Committee are Senators Timothy Adudu, Nuhu Aliyu, Prof. Jibril Aminu, Adeleke Mamora, Udoma Udo Udoma.

The bill passed by the Senate states that "every citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has a legally enforceable right to, and shall, on application be given access to any record under the control of a government or public institution."

An applicant does not need to demonstrate specific interest in the information being applied for.

The Senate at its sitting on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 set up an Ad-Hoc Committee on Freedom of Information Bill to have a second look at the bill, which had been a subject of contention. The Ad-hoc Committee was required to report to the Senate as soon as possible for further consideration.

In his report to the Senate, Ndoma-Egba listed the objectives of the new law, noting: "The objective of the Freedom of Information Bill is to give the general public a right of access to records and information held by public institutions.

He added: "This bill when passed will ensure the availability of public records to citizens of the country as of right and this will in turn facilitate their more informed participation in public discourse, formulation and administration of policies, promote accountability by public officers; and facilitate government's anti-corruption efforts. It will also promote openness in governance and consequently transparency."

He disclosed that the Adhoc Committee after going through the public hearing report of the Senate Committee on Information on this bill, members felt that not all the major stakeholders had participated in the public hearing.

"The committee then agreed that another avenue be created for those agencies/parastatals of government and stakeholders that ought to have participated in the public hearing but did not, to make their inputs towards the bill since the import of the bill is essentially about public records," he said.

Among those invited that contributed to the bill are the Head of Service of the Federation, Nigeria Police Force, State Security Service (SSS), Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA), Nigeria Immigration Service, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigeria Customs Service, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).

Ndoma-Egba observed that although some of the agencies had reservations about certain clauses in the bill, they all welcomed the passage of the bill and suggested that some of the clauses be rephrased to protect national interest. "The NDLEA was the only organisation that rejected the bill in its entirety," he added.

The committee, according to him, made references to similar laws passed and operating in some countries such as the Republic of South Africa Access to Information Act 2000, the United Kingdom Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the United States (U.S.) Freedom of Information Act 1966(Amended in 2002).

One highlight of the bill passed yesterday states that an application for information from a public institution be dealt with in 14 days.

Others are:

• "For the purpose of this Act, any record applied for under this Act that does not exist in print but can by regulation be produced from a machine, normally used by the government or public institution shall be deemed to be record under the control of the government or public institution;

• The head of every government or public institution to which this act applies shall cause to be published in the Federal Gazette a description of:

• the organisation and responsibilities of the institution, including details of programmes and functions of each division, branch and department of the institution;

• all classes of record under the control of the institution in sufficient details to facilitate the exercise of the right to access under this Act;

• all manuals used by employees of the institution in administering or carrying out any of the programmes or activities of the institutions;

• documents containing final opinions, including concurring and dissenting opinions as well as orders made in the adjudication of cases;

• documents containing substantive rules of the institution;

• documents containing statements and interpretations of policy, which have been adopted by the institution;

• documents containing factual reports, inspection reports, and studies whether prepared by or for the institution;

• documents containing information relating to the receipt or expenditure of public or other funds of the institution