‘FG committed to FOI Act implementation’

The Federal Government has reiterated commitment to the sustainable Implementation of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.  The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), stated this at the opening of an FOI Accountability Review Forum in Abuja last week. The AGF, who was represented by the Acting Permanent […]

The Federal Government has reiterated commitment to the sustainable Implementation of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. 

The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), stated this at the opening of an FOI Accountability Review Forum in Abuja last week.

The AGF, who was represented by the Acting Permanent Secretary and Director, Legal Drafting, Mamman Hamza Tahir, welcomed collaborations with ministries, departments, agencies, as well as partners to make the Nigerian FOI regime one of the best in the world.

Tahir explained that under Section 29 (1,2 &3) of the FOI Act, MDAs were obligated to submit their annual report on compliance with the Act to the office of the AGF, while the AGF was to forward same by April 1 of each year.

Also Speaking, the Head of Right to Know(R2K), Ene Nwankpa, identified the support of MacArthur Foundation as being responsible for conducting 20 trainings for MDAs and development of sustainable FOI curricular for the MDAs for continuous training.

Earlier, the Head of FOI Unit in the Ministry of Justice, Benjamin Okolo, said the FOI Act was to entrench accountability, integrity and probity on governance. He charged MDAs and public institutions to always comply with the Act as they were merely the custodians of public information.