Senate Passes Freedom of Information Bill

• Prescribes 3-year imprisonment for record falsification
From Sufuyan Ojeifo in Abuja

ThisDay, Thursday, November 16, 2006

The Senate yesterday passed the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill with a provision that makes it a criminal offence, punishable on conviction with three years imprisonment, for any officer or the head of any government or public institution who destructs or falsifies any official record before it is released.

It was titled a Bill for an Act to Make Public Records and Information More Freely Available, Provide for Public Access to Public Records and Information, Project Public Records and Information to the Extent Consistent with the Public Interest and Protection of Personal Privacy, Protect Serving Public Officers from Adverse Consequences for Disclosing Certain Kinds of Official Information without Authorization and Establish Procedures for the Achievement of Those Purposes and Related Purposes thereof, 2006.

But the Bill, which may be cited on passage as the Freedom of Information Act, 2006 provides every Nigerian with right of access to official records.

“Subject to the provisions of this Act but notwithstanding anything contained in any other Act, Law or Regulation, 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”, states clause 2 as recommended and passed.  The law also provides persons with the right of access to “institute proceedings in a Court to compel the head of any government institution or public body to comply with the provisions of this section”.

It said in respect to notice where accesses to records are applied for thus: “Where access to record is applied for under this Act, the head of the government or public institution to which the application is made shall, subject to Sections 7,8, and 10, of this Act, not later than 14 working days following the date of receipt of the application:  “Give written notice to the person who made the application as to whether or not access to the record or a part thereof will be given; and, “If access is to be given, give the person who made the application access to the record or part thereof”.

Chairman of the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee on the Freedom of Information Bill, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), who presented the Committee’s report to the Senate before the house resolved into a Committee of the Whole for the clause-by-clause consideration, said the objective of the information bill was to give “the general public a right of access to records and information held by public institutions”.

He said the Bill would 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”.

According to him, “It will also promote openness in governance and consequently transparency”.