Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku
Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said that to push the interest of Edo state to greater heights, it is pertinent that people must understand their rights under the law, and therefore has committed to all Open Government Processes that support the passage of the Freedom of Information Bill to law in Edo State.
Obaseki made this known at the 2-day Workshop for Civil Society Organizations (CSO) and journalists on Freedom of Information issues and Advocacy organized by the Africa Network for Environment & Economic Justice (ANEEJ).
Represented by Prof (Mrs.) Yinka Omorogbe, Commissioner of Justice, Edo State at the event which took place at the Vichy Gate Hotel in Benin between August 17 and 18, 2020, Obaseki said that because public participation is essential to good governance, all government processes must be driven by a knowledge of the FOI by stakeholders.
“Governor Godwin Obaseki believes that the passage of the Edo State FOI into law actually depends on the work of CSOs and journalists. Through the passage of the FOI in Edo state, we believe that issues related to election malpractice like vote buying and selling would be a thing of the past,” Mrs Omorogbe said.
In a welcome address, read on his behalf by his deputy, Mr Leo Atakpu, ANEEJ executive director Rev David Ugolor said that the objective of the workshop was to support CSOs/Media advocacy for implementation of Open Government Partnership, OGP, commitments in Edo state, seeking to improve oversight, transparency and accountability in the management of resources.
“This workshop on the FOI issues and advocacy has been designed to get CSOs and journalists to consider the Edo state draft FOI law among other issues. We have assembled experts to provide the context that will ease our understanding of the issues, and we expect that participants to agree on which stakeholders to target with advocacy in order to accelerate the passage of the draft bill,” the Rev Ugolor said.
The Africa Network for Environment & Economic Justice, ANEEJ, is currently implementing the Civil Society Advocacy to Support Anti-Corruption and Rule of Law and in Nigeria Project, CASARN.
The project is part of the implementation of the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption ROLAC, programme funded by the European Union and implemented by the British Council.
Among activities the workshop addressed included a presentation of the draft Edo FOI Bill, the building of an advocacy plan/coalition for the passage of the Edo FOI and an identification of stakeholders crucial for the passage of the Edo State FOI Bill.
