The house of Reps has revisited the foi bill. A motion moved by Hon. Ita Enang and adopted by 20 other members of the house was deliberated and 7 days was given to its committee to submit its reports. Source: channels tv news

If the bill is signed into law before May 29, what will Ribadu do since his only agenda is to sign the foi bill into law?

If the bill is signed into law before May 29, what will Ribadu do since his only agenda is to sign the foi bill into law?

Very interesting. This will change many things in Nigeria if these people are honest about passing that law. But i am skeptical about the contents of the bill,and to what is this FOI going to cover? Any one have a copy of the proposed bill?

Reps return FOI bill to committee for public debate
By John Ameh, Abuja
Friday, 11 Feb 2011
 

The House of Representatives on Thursday returned the Freedom of Information Bill to its Joint Committee on Information and Justice for fresh public hearing.

The House, in a surprise majority voice vote, endorsed a motion to return the bill to the committee.

The Speaker of the House, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, who presided over the session, gave the committee seven days to conduct the public hearing and submit a report to the House for consideration.

The Chairman of House Committee on Rules and Business, Mr. Ita Enang,who sponsored the motion along with 20 other lawmakers, said that the decision to revisit the bill was in the “public interest.”

The development came after the document had spent over three years in the Committee of the Whole, where it was last committed to on November 14, 2007.

In Committee of the Whole, all members of the House dissolve into a single committee to consider and approve or disapprove reports on bills and other reports laid before the legislature.

The FOI was committed to the Committee of the Whole in 2007 after a public hearing had been conducted on it and stakeholders made the recommendations in the bill in its current form.

But efforts to consider recommendations since 2007 had always failed, as most lawmakers poised to “kill” it.

The opponents of the bill claimed that it gave too much powers to the media to expose public officials and pry into their private lives.

In a bid to rescue the bill in the light of the opposition, attempts were made in 2010 to rescind the earlier decision to commit it to the Committee of the Whole without success.

In 2010, efforts to make progress on the bill hit a brick wall about seven times.

However, on Thursday, the motion to rescind the earlier decision and re-commit the bill to the joint committee made a surprise smooth sail in the House.

The National Assembly (2003 to 2007 set) had passed the first version of the FOI bill but former President Olusegun Obasanjo withheld his assent till he left office in May 2007.

The bill was reintroduced when the current legislature was inaugurated in 2007.

This was in line with the legislative rule, which requires that a bill that fails during a tenure can only be revisited in another tenure.

Wherever this happens, such a bill begins its journey afresh by going through rigorous legislative procedures.


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201102112321428

If that Bill is honestly passed before the elections, I doubt a lot of those currently in power today will be coming back. SWEET . . . Nigerians, this is something to stand up for. Demand that they pass that bill now and not later.

Now, if we can figure out the how of getting our voices heard at NASS . .

What are the ACTIVE contact information available on these NASS members? Anyone out there KNOW?

What's really the content of the foi bill?

What's really the content of the foi bill?

Rubbish. all these is just campaign strategy, so that they can be voted back into power to finish off the bill. it wont work this time, Vote PDP out.

@ loveking, is the bill worth being as a law?

@ loveking, is the bill worth being as a law?

^^^ http://www.foicoalition.org/PDF%20Files/FOI_BILL_Harmonised_Version.pdf


Bill as of 2007

@nsiman

definitely yes. but they aint gonna pass it, never. These PDP thieves? Unless GEJ aint coming back and PDP has lost hope of reclaiming power, then they can pass it to haunt ACN.

Gej is not nigeria's problem rather our problem is tribalism and religion. Infact, i followed egypt's evolution since 18days ago via cnn, they egyptians are just plane, no sentiment of any kind as say a section of egypt stood up against the demand for mubarak's resignation, but here tribal favouritism is the order of the day.

Gej is not nigeria's problem rather our problem is tribalism and religion. Infact, i followed egypt's evolution since 18days ago via cnn, they egyptians are just plane, no sentiment of any kind as say a section of egypt stood up against the demand for mubarak's resignation, but here tribal favouritism is the order of the day.

^^^^ This from someone who earlier asked one of the lamest questions of the year ?

Nsiman:

@ loveking,[size=13pt] is the bill worth being as a law?[/size]

GEJ no go allow this to happen. Too many skeletons in his C*B*D*

@ ms kobo, if that bill is worth existing let NASS do their job not unnecessary criticism, that is what i meant because as i understand gej's critics here, they are on prejudice and sentiments, some have even gone tribal by calling for gej to pick a s.westerner as a running mate for gej

^^^ Sometimes if you have no clue about an issue, it is best you say NOTHING of the issue. The FOI bill has been going back and forth for well over 7 years with the President and NASS passing it back and forth . . . none wanting to take it seriously, probably for fear of what signing it into law might mean for them. Did you watch Obama campaign for the Health Bill in America? That is what President's do when they really care for an issue. Jonathan can effect the passing of this bill with all the clout he has, but will he?

I am not even blaming him for any of this but you trying to make an excuse for him, even as you admit you have little idea of what this is all about, is pathetic.

~Good advise

~Good advise