Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) has disclosed that poor record keeping and management were the major challenges preventing effective and efficient implementation of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act by public institutions.
He added that lack of willingness ‘in many quarters’ to accept the new information regime imposed by the FOI Act prevents its full implementation.
He stated that vigorous implementation of the Act is essential for Nigeria to make significant breakthrough in the enthronement of good governance.
Malami spoke yesterday in Abuja at an event organised by the ministry to commemorate 10 years of implementation of the Act in the country.
The theme of the event was, “A Decade of Implementing the Freedom of Information Act by Public Institutions and Developing Sustainable Strategies for Strengthening the FOI Act.”
The minister was represented by his Special Assistant on Cyber Crimes, Mr. Abiodun Aikomo.
“Section 29 of the Act places on the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice the responsibility and obligation to oversee compliance with the Act, especially by the MDAs
“As such, the Office of the Attorney -General had published regulations on implementation and reporting requirements under the FOI Act, 2011 for public institutions on January 29, 2012
“This was closely followed with the guidelines on the implementation issued on March 15, 2012 and the revised edition issued on February 27, 2013.”
The minister expressed concerns that the implementation of the Act had encountered several challenges among the different MDAs.
“Notwithstanding the laudable and noble objectives of the FOI Act and the regulations made pursuant thereto, there have been a lot of challenges towards the effective and efficient implementation of the Act by public institutions.
“Among such challenges are poor record keeping and management, lack of willingness in many quarters to accept the new information regime imposed by the FOI Act in Nigeria.”
The Head of FOI Unit in the Ministry, Mr. Ichibor Gowon, said that the unit had received 489 reports from 176 MDAs.
“In the first year of implementation in 2011, we received annual compliance report from 16 MDAs; in 2012, 32 MDAs submitted their reports; and in 2013, 51 submitted.
“For 2014, we got reports from 60 MDAs; 2015, we received reports from 44; in 2016, 54 MDAs submitted their reports; and in 2017, we had 73 reports.
“The number went down in 2018 where only 70 MDAs submitted their reports; but increased in 2019 with 89 MDAs bringing reports; and in 2020, we had reports from 73 MDAs.”
Mrs Ene Nwankpa of Right to Know, a civil society organisation, decried the slow implementation of the FOI Act, saying that it was discouraging.
“There has been a systemic process of denial in the implementation of the act in such a way that some MDAs acknowledge receipt of a request for information but will never act on it.
“We also discovered that some MDAs forward some requests to the Department of State Services and so we have DSS officials constantly stalking our offices or asking why we are demanding for certain information.”
Some of the MDAs present on the occasion, how, as well as outlining which departments or units should handle FOI requests.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the Freedom of Information Act came into operation on May 28, 2011 to enable the Nigerian public have access to certain government information in order to ensure transparency and accountability.
THISDAY
