Beautiful law facing implementation challenges – TheNigerialawyer

Oladimeji Ramon

There was jubilation, particularly among media practitioners and
civil society organisations, when in May 2011 former President
Goodluck Jonathan gave his assent to the Freedom of Information
Act.

The then new law was “to make public records and information
more freely available and provide public access to public records
and information.”

Its signing into law was to mark the end of a long battle for
transparency and accountability in government institutions by the
media and CSOs.

But eight years after the FOI Act was passed, the victory scored
by the media and CSOs may have become pyrrhic, as the dream of free
access to information is still far from being realised.

Speaking recently at a public hearing on the FOI Act organised
by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, the Dean,
Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Prof. Ayo Atsenuwa, named the
failure of government to repeal the Official Secrets Act as one of
the major setbacks for the FOI Act.

The law professor also listed “tedious administrative processes
of application for information” and widespread disobedience to
court orders for FOI Act request enforcement as other factors
frustrating citizens.

Atsenuwa added that despite the provision of the FOI Act
mandating governmental institutions to be transparent by making
information available on their websites, many such websites were
“maintained more for public relations goals than to serve FOI
standards.”

She said the FOI Act had not worked because after it was passed,
the government failed or neglected to “retrain and structure a
programme of debriefing of public officers to internalise a
paradigm shift to make for more willingness to make information
available to citizens.”

Atsenuwa said whereas the FOI Act was a beautiful law, the
identified obstacles had hamstrung it.

“The FOI Act can particularly benefit citizens advocacy for good
governance in provision of education, health care and water to
citizens in the following ways — Expose and fight corruption; gain
access to information needed to engage in informed advocacy with
institutions of government; and enforce compliance with FOI
standards by reporting on failure to comply,” Atsenuwa said in the
paper she presented at the SERAP’s public hearing with the theme,
“Building the Capacity of Citizens in Use of Freedom of Information
Act as a Tool for Promoting Transparency and Accountability in
Nigeria’s Health Sector.”

But for the obstacles, Atsenuwa said with the FOI Act, citizens
ought to be able to “request allocation, procurement and projects
implementation.”

“This information will enable them to track information or
documents relating to budgets and finance and what is being
done.

“If citizens identify impropriety through the search of records,
such findings can be forwarded to the police, the EFCC or the ICPC
for further Investigation,” she said.

The law professor explained that any citizen can request
information under the FOI Act irrespective of age and
notwithstanding any physical disability.

She said all public institutions had been mandated to make such
information available within seven days of the formal request.

She said the law mandated all public institutions to oblige all
requests for information except if the disclosure of such
information will be “injurious to the conduct of international
affairs or the defence of the Federal Public of Nigeria.”

She said even at that such information may be made available to
the applicant if the public benefit of disclosure outweighs the
injury that may be caused.

Atsenuwa said though the FOI Act gives citizens the right to sue
any government institution which fails to oblige their requests for
information, the enforcement of court orders had been difficult due
to widespread disobedience to court orders.

Also speaking at the SERAP public hearing, Dr Fassy Yusuf, a
Senior Fellow at UNILAG, said it was regrettable that despite the
euphoria that greeted the signing of the FOI Act in 2011, “its
implementation has been Herculean and quite challenging.”

He said, “Some of the issues bedevilling its implementation
include: unwillingness by public officials to release information
to the media, civil society groups and citizens; corruption in low
and high places; cumbersome and expensive legal processes;
unnecessary bureaucracy/red tape; absence of transparency and
accountability in our body polity; lack of democratic ethos and
open attitude to information dissemination by public officials, and
bad governance.”

Yusuf lamented that as a result of corruption and lack of
accountability, public service in the country had brought the
citizens no joy.

“SERVICOM (service compliance) that was introduced during the
regime of Olusegun Obasanjo died shortly after the euphoria that
greeted its birth. It is to be noted that the disposition of the
civil service to any law or project would determine its success or
otherwise,” he said.

He also bemoaned corruption and bad governance in the
country.

He said, “Bad governance has brought the country to its knees
and it is responsible largely for the past and present misfortunes.
One can only pray and hope that the current administration would be
in a position to institutionalise good governance. This is because
good governance brings about accountable and responsive democracy,
effective and efficient system, egalitarianism and sustainable
democracy instead of a token democracy. With good governance, we
would have had better implementation of the Freedom of Information
Act.”

He said for the FOI Act to serve its purpose, the government of
the day must embrace transparency and accountability.

He said, “They are two important elements of good governance.
Transparency is a powerful force that when consistently applied can
promote accountability in government and assist tremendously in the
procurement of information about the health sector from government
sources. Lack of accountability has been largely responsible for
the distrust of the citizens.

“When public officials realise that their activities are subject
to public scrutiny, they become more circumspect in their affairs
leading to transparency and accountability in the health
sector.”

In order for the FOI Act to succeed, Yusuf said CSOs and
citizens must continue to demand its full implementation.

Culled from Punch