ACCESS TO INFORMATION DAY: FoI Act Major Step Towards Entrenching open Government’ -CITAD
The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), a National
nongovernmental organization using ICT for development and information sharing to promote
transparency and accountability in public and private sector, promote peace and mitigate conflict,
foster good governance and societal wellbeing is joining millions of people over the world in
celebrating the 2020 International Day for Universal Access to Information with the theme “In
times of crisis, constitutional, statutory and/or policy guarantees for public access to information
save lives, build trust and help develop sustainable policies”.
Each year the World Access to Information day is observed around the world on 28 September.
The UN General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to compliance of the release of
information, as a critical tool for accountability and transparency which are the ingredients for
every growth and development. The Freedom of Information Act was a product of collaboration
between citizens, organised civic actors and government. It was passed by both chambers of the
6th National Assembly on 24th May 2011 and assented by the then President on 28th May, 2011.
The underlying philosophy of the Act is that public servants are custodians of a public trust on
behalf of a population who have a right to know what they do. In particular, the FoI Act promises
to remove the aura of mystery and exclusion with which public servants cloak the ordinary
operations of government and public institutions. It also seeks to change the manner in which
public records and information are managed. The Act builds on an assumption of openness, by
placing on those who wish to keep public information away from the people, the onus of
justifying why they have to do so. If fully implemented, the FoI Act will transform quite
fundamentally the way in which government conducts business and the perception of the people
towards the government.
The Freedom of Information Act has two main objectives, namely
o Promote accountability
o Enable citizens participation in decision making
Both of these cannot be achieved without information. In particular, decision making is based on
having the right information to make an informed contribution to debate. It is important to
CITAD
C E N T R E F O R I N F O R M A T I O N T E C H N O L O G Y A N D D E V E L O P M E N T ( C I T A D )
HEAD OFFICE:3rd Floor, NSITF Building, No.1 A Social Insurance Road, Behind Trade Fair Complex Zaria
Road Kano P. O. Box 10210, Kano ?: 08054362931, 08023212501,
Website: www.citad.opg , email: info@citad.org
Abuja Office: No. 8 Accra Street, Wuse Zone 5, 080687,11032, 08032633848
JIGAWA OFFICE: Flat B, Aduwa House, Behind Old Market, Aminu Kano Way, Dutse, Jigawa State. Tel.
No. 08060820921, 08068078282,
BAUCHI OFFICE: Central Office Building, Emir’s Drive, Opp. Emir’s Palace, Azare, Bauchi State. Tel 08064867312,
08056180208, 08075990772
remember that accountability is at the root of modern representative democracy. Because of scale
and complexity of issues, we cannot all directly take part in decision making and therefore have
to surrender this right to our representatives who in turn must render accountability in return.
The three dimensions of Accountability; Representation, Resource management and Information
flow require exchange of information between the governments and givers of mandate. In
particular, lack of information makes it difficult to assess the extent to which governments
manage resources and determine what the benefits of the people are.
It is this opacity of information that creates the condition for corruption to strive. Information
flow is thus a critical condition for transparency and for curtailing corruption in governance.
In accordance with FOI, Public and Private Institutions have the responsibilities to
? Capture records and keep information about all its activities, operations and businesses
? Keep records by proper organization and maintenance of all information in its custody,
and
? Make it available by publishing or otherwise make this information to the public
In Nigeria, often government officials are reluctant to provide even the most elementary
information at their disposal. It is very disheartening seeing the behaviour and attitudes of
government officials when it comes to prior disclosure and even with the written request of
information at their disposal by the citizens. These make it difficult in bringing sanity to the
governments’ expenditures when tracking and accountability as well as transparency in
governance. The refusal of the prompt disclosure and request of the information by the
government officials is a clear violation of the FOI Act and denial of growth and development.
To this end, CITAD strongly condemn the lack of respect of the law and FOI Act by the MDAs.
CITAD has been tracking various projects at national and state levels using the FOI requesting
relevant information for the tracking but unfortunately some of the MDAs concerned are
refusing us access. As part of our effort in tracking government uncompleted projects, youth are
involved and given prizes by reporting any uncompleted project in their communities, and we
ensure publication of such and reporting it to the relevant authorities for action. Here are our
recommendations:
? All MDAs should secure and update their websites and ensure functionality at all times
? Proactive Disclosure of real and relevant information or records must be made available
always
? Total compliance to the citizens requests must be emphasized by the authorities and legal
sector should facilitate the sanctions and punishment in case of failure
? Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) should plan to create pressure on the agency in case
it fails to provide the information within the stipulated time and prepare to share the
request with media organizations, other groups who may have interest in the information
and relevant communities who are affected by what the information tells. This is
important because failure to provide the information means you can challenge that in a
court of law.
Adopting a comprehensive FoI Act is a major step towards entrenching an open government, one
in which Nigerians can have an active voice in the process of governance and policy decisions.
This can only happen with full and effective implementation of the law. The success of the
Freedom of Information Act is dependent on a partnership between the government, the media,
civil society and the private sector. The general populace would need to be less resistance to
openness as continued resistance would severely impede the effectiveness of the law. Opening
up government would greatly enhance the lives of Nigerians and can only bring about positive
changes. Transparency in government would streamline government processes, improve
bureaucratic efficiency, reduce corruption and support economic growth and foreign
investments.
So, we are using this day to call on government officials, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs),
individuals, Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to partner one another in ensuring ease
flow of information for progress, growth and development.
CITAD wants to end this statement by enjoining people of Nigeria to be tracking all government
projects and report any deviation to the authority concern so that we strengthen access to health,
education and justice, and can contribute towards reduced inequalities.
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