Nigerian Parliament passes Freedom of Information Bill

In November 2006 the Nigerian Senate finally passed the much awaited Freedom of Information Bill 2005 – more than six years after it was introduced in the House of Representatives. The Bill now needs to go through the final hurdles of concurrence between the chambers of the National Assembly and then receive Presidential assent to become law. If enacted, Nigeria will be the fifth country in Africa after South Africa, Angola, Uganda and Zimbabwe to have a freedom of information (FOI) law and the 13th country in the Commonwealth to have passed legislation of this kind.

Importance of a FOI law

Transparency, participation and accountability are key principles in bringing about good governance and one of the primary tools for achieving these objectives is freedom of information - allowing people access to government held information. Freedom of information is a fundamental human right enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - adopted by nearly all countries worldwide, including Nigeria.

The importance of FOI laws (otherwise known as access laws) cannot be overstated for a developing nation like Nigeria which was governed by a military dictatorship for more than decade after independence in 1960. It is in transitional environments such as this that access laws can serve to make democracy more meaningful by encouraging the active participation of the electorate in state decision-making processes. An underlying foundation of a democratic state is the existence of an informed population able to thoughtfully choose its representatives and hold governments accountable.

An access regime helps to speed up the eradication of poverty by making development a participatory process. It is a well-known fact that many aid agencies and development programmes funded by Governments do not reach the people they are designed to target. In fact, funds meant for various development and anti-poverty schemes are siphoned off without a penny spent on the intended recipients. This has serious ramifications especially when we consider the fact that many nations are still striving to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Access laws seek to change this equation by opening up channels of communication between the Government and the people, thereby improving the effectiveness of development and poverty alleviation strategies and strengthening efforts to meet the MDGs. A Freedom of Information law is also a proven anti-corruption tool and it has been observed that countries with an FOI law are generally perceived to be much less corrupt than those without one. According to Transparency International’s 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index, Nigeria is way down the ladder, ranking 146th most corrupt country in a list of 163 countries. It is hoped that the enactment of a FOI law would finally provide an effective mechanism to check corruption in this oil rich nation.

Key features of the Bill

Now that the Freedom of Information Bill has been passed by both Houses of Nigeria’s Parliament, further procedures have to be satisfied before the Bill becomes law. According to the constitution, both the houses of the National Assembly have to sit together and harmonise the different versions of the Bill as passed by the House of the Representatives and the Senate and then send it to the President for his final assent. The text of the final FOI Bill that will be assented to by the President is not yet publicly available. However, newspaper reports have stated that one of the most important features of the Bill as passed by the Senate will be the penalty clause that states that “anyone who destroys or falsifies public records can be sentenced to jail for up to three years” - a very positive clause indeed. However it would be too early to comment on the final text of the Bill - as stated earlier, both the Houses have yet to sit and bring both the versions into line.

Conclusion

Nigeria will hold its Presidential and Parliamentary elections in April this year and it is in this context that Freedom of Information advocates all over the world, especially those in Nigeria, are urgently pressing to have the concurrence process undertaken as soon as possible, enabling President Olusegun Obasanjo to give his assent before Parliament retires. Civil society and the media, especially the Media Rights Agenda, have played a significant role in pushing for such a law. The people of Nigeria too have waited long enough and it is time the Nigerian Parliamentarians as well as the President gives its citizens a New Year gift by enacting and setting firm dates for implementation.