‘Freedom Of Information ’ll Make Everyone An Anti-corruption Agent’

Daily Independent, November 26, 2006

Lanre Arogundade, coordinator of International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos, says the Freedom of Information Bill, which is now awaiting President Olusegun Obasanjo’s assent, when it becomes law, would boost investigation and challenge the anti-corruption bodies as they would no longer be able to hide alleged selectivism under the cloak of unavailable information. Arogundade speaks with VINCENT OBIA. Excerpts:

How prepared do you think the Nigerian society is for this access to information law?

It is difficult now to talk about how prepared Nigerians are to make use of the document. But what we could say with certainty is that Nigerians welcome this particular bill in the sense that they actively participated in the campaign that led to the passage. We have a Freedom of Information Coalition in place, led by the Media Rights Agenda. That coalition includes organisations and individuals representing diverse interest groups – professionals, trade unionists, businessmen and businesswomen, etc. At the various roundtables that were held as well as civil society forums that we convened on the Freedom Of Information Bill (FOI), many of them said they found it to be a useful tool for the kind of work they do. Now that the law is gradually becoming a reality, what it would then mean is that we would have to begin another round of education, training, and enlightenment on actual usage of the bill. But I think it has a very strong potential of being widely used by Nigerians.

Without an act, for now, that specifically protects those that are supposed to give out information, do you not think persons in position to divulge information, particularly civil servants, may be too afraid to disclose the facts at their disposal to those who need them?

We will get to that point. But right now, there is another bill at the National Assembly, the Whistle Blowers’ Bill, which is an initiative of Transparency International and the Zero Corruption Coalition. Now that the FOI bill has been passed, it will only be logical and commonsensical for that Whistle Blowers’ Bill to be passed as well because that bill specifically seeks to protect the whistle blower, like civil servants.

Be that as it may, there is also a section in the FOI bill that actually guarantees protection for whoever makes information available. With that, I do not think this secrecy oath that civil servants swear to would have such a negative effect, except where the government of the day is not willing to cooperate and then they go behind to threaten government officials and say, look if you receive information don’t forget that you swore to oath of secrecy. Government could use that to intimidate or gag them from making information available. You cannot rule that out, it is not going to be a straightforward thing.

How would you reconcile the FOI bill, when it becomes law, with extant secrecy laws in the country?

I think that gradually, the FOI bill, when it becomes law, is going to negate some of these laws. We have, for example, the official secrecy act, but we can’t have freedom of information law and still have official secrecy act. Definitely, as they say, when we get to that bridge, we shall cross it.

There would be obstacles. We are not unduly optimistic that once this law becomes a reality, it’s just one smooth flow of information. Things don’t work that way. Governments all over the world try as much as possible to check the amount of information that goes out. But the advantage of the freedom of information law is that while the government is trying to keep information, it allows you to keep knocking on the door of government to get that information. And where there are clashes of interest and information is not made available, the bill provides the right of citizens to go to court. That is the key thing here. The bill does not just give Nigerian citizens the right to access information; it also makes that right legally enforceable.

How would the expected access to information law impact on the anti-corruption war, especially the operation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)?

I’m glad you mentioned EFCC. One of the criticisms against EFCC is that it has been selective. But the commission says, we act on the information that we have, we act on the petitions that we receive. In fact, the other anti-corruption agency, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), can hardly on its own initiate investigation. But when you have information that certain things have gone wrong in a particular government establishment, you have to furnish ICPC with the facts and then they set about the process of investigation. What this means is that this particular bill has made every Nigerian citizen an anti-corruption agent. And if I now have information on a governor, for instance, and gives it to EFCC and the commission refuses to act, then we would know that EFCC truly is selective. The bill gives everybody the opportunity to get this information and make it available to the relevant agencies that will now act on them.

There is no way you can fight corruption without an access to information law.

Can the citizens actually apply this bill, when it becomes law, to questions that border on provision of developmental amenities by government for the people?

The fight against corruption does not have to be the prerogative of government alone; the citizens have to make an input. In any case, it is also one of the ways of ensuring participatory democracy. The key thing here is that citizens can now ask questions. It is not just about what is happening in the Presidency. Look at the Niger Delta, how volatile it is. Nobody would tell me that government has not been voting money. With the freedom of information law in place, communities could actually apply for information and say, look, in this particular year our government voted this amount of money for the development of our area, what happened to this money because in our own community, we have not seen development. Who are the contractors?

Look at what happened in Lagos recently with this mighty building collapsing, and everybody keeps talking about developer, developer. You begin to wonder whether this developer is such a mystical figure that nobody could even have an idea of who he is. A professional body of builders, for example, who are trying to ensure standards in that industry could now begin to apply for information on these quacks who parade themselves as professional builders.

How does the expected freedom to information law challenge the media?

I think the major challenge for the media is the fact that we can no longer run away from investigative journalism. Now we are going to have a law that allows you to ask as many questions as possible and crosscheck your facts. With this, I think we can begin to get away from all the problems of inaccuracy. But freedom of information will not automatically make the journalist a better journalist. You must still have the nose for investigation; you must know how to use the information that you have.

Definitely, journalists are going to be major users of the law and it should have enormous effect on our work. Though, there are still restrictions, like in the area of security, etc, unlike the United States where after some years some information are declassified. We don’t have that in our bill, but these are some of the things we are still going to fight for.

Do you think the media in Nigeria is prepared to foot the cost of investigative reporting?

It should be seen as part of the responsibility of anybody starting a media establishment. They have to set aside fund that would support investigative reporting. When you don’t do that, you will continue to lose the patronage of the reading public; they will continue to see all the newspapers as being the same – Obasanjo says this, that is what all of us carry. The public out there wants to see something refreshing and different. In fact, the media proprietors need now to create investigative desks and also ensure that resources are available for investigations.

Does civil society have a role to play in investigative reporting?

When you look at societies where investigative reporting has kind of developed, it has not been the responsibility of individual media houses alone. Foundations, interest groups, etc, do come together to institute awards and put some votes to support investigative reporting. A journalist that is convinced that he has something he is looking into can apply for funds, especially in things like environment, HIV/AIDS, etc. In Nigeria, we must embrace this. Happily, some organisations are now instituting awards to reward investigative reporting, like the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting, etc.

But our own appeal is more to the individual journalist. We live in an internet age, despite the constraints that we face, for example, poor pay, sometimes our interest is different from the interest of our owner, sometimes you have some no go areas, etc. Despite all those objective obstacles, we should on our own be committed to investigative reporting and be prepared to effectively use the freedom of information bill.

Do you think Nigeria for now has a government that could allow the FOI bill, when it become law, work?

On the basis of what we have seen so far, I cannot say confidently that this government would make FOI work. But some people may say, if you know the government won’t make it work, why put in all this effort. The thing for us is to be prepared to make it work, so that where we try to make it work and it is not allowed to work, at least, it would have been clear both to those of us here and outsiders what the real obstacle is.

When you talk of information, it is government that does not have anything to hide that would release information. Where you have a government that is doing those things that people want, they are not afraid of information.

It is also a political battle. The right to information, for example, cannot be taken in isolation from the right to education, health, etc. So it’s going to be a kind of political battle to make FOI work.