…Says media must keep issue on front burner
By Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku
Benin City, Nigeria – Rev David Ugolor, Executive Director of the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), has appealed to the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki to present the draft Freedom of Information Bill to the State House of Assembly as an Executive Bill for consideration.
Ugolor who made the appeal recently during a press briefing at the headquarters of ANEEJ in Benin City, Edo State said that the draft Edo State FOI Bill has been subjected to series of consultations with stakeholders including CSOs under the Open Government Partnership (OGP) framework.
“During the first tenure of Mr. Obaseki as governor of Edo State, a draft Edo State FOI bill was prepared by the legal drafting team of Edo State Ministry of Justice. We have had engagement meetings with some stakeholders both state and none state actors to join us in this advocacy effort to engage more stakeholder to support our advocacy issues,” Rev Ugolor said.
May 28, 2011, ex-President Goodluck Jonathan signed the Freedom of Information Bill into law. The FOI Act is intended to make public information, records and documents more freely available to the public.
It also mandates the government to proactively disclose information and set up FOI desk to swiftly respond to FOI requests from the public. Since then, civil society organizations and other interest groups have been working at subnational level, engaging State government on the need to have their States FOI law.
Rev Ugolor told newsmen: “if States have their own FOI law, it will also bring to an end the raging controversy about the applicability of FOI Act at State level where several groups both within and outside Edo State are now in court.
“The effort to get other State governors to take the same step has continued till date as ANEEJ is currently working with Gatefield and other organizations under the “Keep it Open” cluster program to advocate for the passage of FOI law in Edo, Kaduna and Adamawa States. The “Keep it Open” cluster program is part of the SCALE (Strengthening Civil Advocacy and Local Engagement) project, currently being implemented by Palladium with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
“The goal of the project is to democratize the civic space and foster an enabling environment for civic space/digital rights in Nigeria by advocating for enabling laws, policies and regulations within the civic space for digital rights and freedom of information,” Rev Ugolor.
Through the Keep-it-Open Program, Ugolor said ANEEJ seeks the passage of the digital rights and freedom bill into law at the national level, and domestication of of the FOI 2011 in Edo, Kaduna and Adamawa States.
