When group takes FOI advocacy to community, grassroots

Speaking at the workshop, the director of campaigns, Media Rights Agenda, Mr. Tive Denedo said the workshop was part of the on-going effort to ensure that the Nigerian society was highly engaged and mobilized around the FOI Act.  “As many of you are aware, we have previously developed an application to enable Nigerians download the […]

Speaking at the workshop, the director of campaigns, Media Rights Agenda, Mr. Tive Denedo said the workshop was part of the on-going effort to ensure that the Nigerian society was highly engaged and mobilized around the FOI Act.  “As many of you are aware, we have previously developed an application to enable Nigerians download the Freedom of Information Act to their Blackberry devices, Nokia phones and other java-enabled phones.  This application which we called the MRA FOI App, was launched on November 15, 2011 and was also developed with the support of USAID and Pact Nigeria.

Most of you here know how hard civil society organizations in this country worked to ensure the passage of the Freedom of Information Bill into Law.  It would be tragic if we now have the Law, but fail to put it to use to improve governance in our country.” He said

According to the organizers of the workshop, its objective was to build the capacity of CSOs, including community based organizations (CBOs), faith-based organizations (FBOs) and other grassroots organizations, to effectively engage with the FOI Act. The workshop was also intended to encourage the participating organizations to mainstream Freedom of Information in their organizations, regardless of the sectors in which they work, while also equipping them with the knowledge, skills and practical tools with which to sensitize and train others in their immediate communities to use the FOI Act.

It was also aimed at training the participants to formulate actual requests for information relevant to their sectors and encourage them to submit such requests to the relevant public institutions after the workshop.

The workshop, conducted in plenary and break-out sessions, had presentations on the concept of Freedom of Information and why it was important; an Overview of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011; and how to make requests for information under the FOI Act.

Practical exercises were also undertaken to familiarize participants with the process of drafting actual requests for information relevant to their sectors.

At the end of the workshop, the participants adopted a communiqué with the following observations, commitments and recommendations:

It was argued at the workshop that, although Section 13 of the Freedom of Information Act requires public institutions to train their officials on the right to information and on the effective implementation of this Act, the level of training so far given to public officials is inadequate to ensure effective implementation.

Given the geographical spread of grassroots and civil society organizations as well as their role in reaching the citizens, their willingness and ability to mainstream the FOI Act in their work will make the organizations more effective in carrying out research or advocacy on the outcome of the research.

The Freedom of Information Act contains very good provisions that can be deployed by CSOs and ordinary citizens to foster a high level of transparency, accountability and ultimately, good governance by public officers.

Public institutions should be encouraged to comply with the operational and implementation guidelines issued by the Attorney-General of the Federation which require public institutions to take steps to re-organise their information and records management processes to facilitate compliance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.

It was as well submitted that State Governors perceived by the public to be using state resources to develop the state, surprisingly do not provide information about the meetings and decisions taken concerning contracts and expenditures made on behalf of the citizens.

The high incidence of violations, arrests, indefinite detentions of citizens and abuse of human rights by security officials through indiscriminate arrests of people allegedly involved in kidnappings and abductions within Edo state should be regarded as a priority for civil society groups in the state.

Participants strongly deprecated the continued violation of the rights of citizens to information by many state governments under the guise of first wanting to “domesticate” the Freedom of Information Act when in reality, they are clearly unwillingly to comply with the provisions of the Act to enthrone transparency and accountability in their states.

They therefore recommended that: All public institutions should put in place human and material resources that will assist them to effectively implement the Freedom of Information Act, especially in the light of Section 13 which requires public institutions to train their officials on the public’s right to information and on the effective implementation of this Act.

The Federal Government should make adequate budgetary allocations for the effective implementation of the Freedom of Information Act in its 2013 budget proposals and where it has not done so, the National Assembly should factor it into the budget before the 2013 Appropriation Act is signed.

Grassroots and civil society organizations should create local networks across the country to help create awareness about the Freedom of Information  Act as well as monitoring compliance with the provisions of the Act by public institutions.

Governments at all levels should use the Freedom of Information Act to address the issues of public participation, openness, transparency and accountability in the governance process so that resources will be judiciously used to improve the standard of living of Nigerians.

The numerous law suits arising from the Freedom of Information Act and presently in court should be summarily heard and decided in accordance with the provisions of Section 21 of the Act so that they can serve as precedents for subsequent cases and also to act as a body of jurisprudence for the Act.

The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation should as a matter of urgency take action to widely publicize the operational and implementation guidelines, particularly the aspects which require public institutions to re-organise their information and records management process to facilitate compliance with the Freedom of Information Act.

All the states in Nigeria should adopt and begin to apply the Freedom of Information Act, as passed in by the National Assembly, to foster accountability, openness and public participation in governance at the state level instead of campaigning for domestication by states.

State Governors who are perceived by the public to be using state resources to improve lives of citizens should as a matter of urgency proactively disclose information about decisions they have taken on contracts and expenditures.

The participants also agreed that the Freedom of Information Act is an important law that will be useful in assessing the performance of public officials in procurements and budget implementations, among other areas. It was also agreed that civil society organizations should work together to advance the implementation of the Act in the state through continual advocacy.

On his part, Pact Nigeria Country Director, Dr Audu Liman during his Good-Will message at the workshop said his organization supported the Media Rights Agenda in its efforts to ensure a more effective implementation of the FOI because it was at the forefront of the efforts to pass the FOI and now that the law has been passed, it has continued its advocacy to make it effective.

He however cautioned that “Without effective engagement, the FOI will gather dust on the shelves like many other Nigerian laws.”