http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=39726:reps-make-defence-economy-no-go-areas-in-passed-foi-bill&catid=1:national&Itemid=559


Stipulates three-year jail term for offenders

Minister, Editors’ Guild laud lawmakers’ action

TRUE to their promise, members of the House of Representatives yesterday passed into law the controversial Freedom of Information (FoI) Bill, which had taken on the toga of the nation’s oldest legal instrument before the National Assembly.

The 34-clause bill, which was unanimously passed by the lawmakers present at the session, was immediately transmitted to the Senate for concurrence.

Its passage was preceded by the clause-by-clause consideration as prepared by the House Committee on Information and Orientation as well as the Committee on Justice.

The planned law is however not open-ended as it excluded access to defence issues, cases under investigation by security agencies, and others classified under “national economic interests.”

According to the committee, the bill seeks to provide a right of access to public information or records kept by governments or public institutions or private bodies carrying out public functions for citizens and non-citizens of the country.”

The Executive arm of government and the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) praised the Lower Chamber for doing Nigerians proud by passing the bill into law. They noted that the law would promote public accountability and enhance national development.

Chairman of the Justice Committee, Henry Seriake Dickson, who presented the report for consideration by the House, said the “bill is intended to increase the availability of public records and information to citizens of the country in order to participate more effectively in the making and administration of laws and policies, and to promote accountability of public affairs.”

Other objectives of the bill include making public information more freely available; providing access to public records and information; protecting public records and information to the extent consistent with the public interest and the protection of personal privacy; and protecting serving public officers from adverse consequences for disclosing certain kind of official information without authorisation.

The planned law also established procedures for the achievement of these purposes and related ones.

It prescribed a three-year jail term for any officer of government found guilty of falsification or destruction of information.

“It shall be an offence punishable with three years imprisonment for any officer of public institution to destroy, alter, falsify or deliberately misrepresent information kept in his custody,” the bill stated.

The proposed law, however, denied users access to information on defence, international affairs, and matters under investigation by law enforcement agencies.

The bill also excluded public access to information affecting the economic interest of the country.

In Section 15, the bill states that “a public institution may deny an application for information that contains trade secrets, financial, commercial or technical information that belongs to the government and has substantial economic value or is likely to have substantial economic value.”

Also, the Bill made it mandatory for every public institution to publish certain information concerning its operation even without request by anybody.

Section (3)(3) of the bill declared that “a public institution shall cause to be published the following information:

• A description of the organisation and responsibilities of the institution including details of the programmes and functions of each division, branch and departments;

• list of all classes of records under the control of the institution in sufficient detail to facilitate the exercise of the right to information under this Act;

• a list of all manuals used by employees of the institution in administering or carrying out any of the programmes or activities of the institution;

• a description of document containing final opinions including concurring and dissenting opinions as well as orders made in the adjudication of cases;

• document containing substantive rules of the institution;, and

• document containing statements and interpretations of policies, which have been adopted by the institution.”

An elated Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) over the lawmakers’ action, praised them for rising to the occasion and acting in the collective interest of Nigeria.

In a statement yesterday, NGE President Gbenga Adefaye, said the group received the news with great joy. He noted that this was the second time within a decade, that the House would respond to “our collective hunger for openness and transparency in the administration of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The FoI law will certainly aid accountability in our public life.

For the Guild, it is remarkable that the leadership of the House of Representatives has kept its words to the Guild, to pass this bill because it agrees that the nation (not just the media) needs it.

“The Guild will like to note also the concurrence of the leadership of the House that a Freedom of Information Law will make legislation easier as nobody in the ministries and the MDAs can withhold information that is needed for public good - whether for legislative purposes or basic information and education of the citizenry by the media.

“The Guild now calls on the Senate to borrow a leaf from the House by passing the bill early enough for presidential assent. We are delighted that the Minister of Information and Communication, Mr. Labaran Maku, had during the biennial convention of the Nigerian Guild of Editors in Lagos last month, publicly committed to lobbying for presidential assent of the bill once it is passed by the National Assembly. We expect him to honour his words, once the Senate does its patriotic duty of opening up the system for accountable government.

“While we wait to see the content of the bill as passed by the House, the Guild would like to put the media on notice that a Freedom of Information Law only helps to foster a more informed and socially responsible press,” he said.

Minister of Information and Communications, Mr. Labran Maku, has commended the House for the passage of the bill.

He told journalists yesterday in Abuja that the passage of the FOI was a plus for Nigerians and the country’s democracy.

“I congratulate the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the entire House for a job well-done. What is happening today is a plus for Nigerians and its democracy. It is my belief that with the passage of this FoI Bill, Nigeria’s democracy has been consolidated as the bill is not for the media alone but for the growth of the country,” Maku said.

He, however, called on the Senate to ensure that the passage of the bill was not delayed in its chamber.

The bill was returned to the legislature in 2007 after former President Olusegun Obasanjo refused to assent to it before he left office that year. It was in the House for almost a year without attention. The bill, described as the oldest legal document before the National Assembly has been in the legislature since 1999 when it was first introduced to the lawmakers as a non-member bill by the Media Rights Agenda (MRA).

In 2008, the House rejected it when at the third reading while in January 2009, most members of the Lower House asked the Speaker Dimeji Bankole to stand down the bill as they vowed to kill it when brought to them again for passage.

That made it the tenth time it suffered a setback in the lower chamber.

The Co-Chairman of the new Joint-Committee on the Freedom of Information Bill, Henry Dickson, had last week assured that it would be passed into law latest today.

Also yesterday, the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji disclosed the Federal Government had disengaged from power generation.

At a meeting with the Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives on Gas, he said the paucity of funds to embark on construction of pipelines might affect government’s plan to boost gas supply in the country even as the National Assembly insists on completion of the project this year.

He added that it might be difficult for government to realise the projected 40, 000 megawatts by 2020 from thermal power plants because of non-allocation of funds by the legislature.

“There is no way we can shy away from infrastructure if we want to grow the economy and power is critical. I want you to look at it very well because this is key, but government alone is not going to fund it. The private sector will have to look for because the plan is for government to develop the infrastructure to deliver the gas to the power plants and then hands off power generation and distribution in 2011”, he said.

However, Director-General of the Budget Office, Mr. Bright Okogwu, told the Committee that N195 billion had been earmarked for national domestic gas development in the 2011 budget, adding that it would not be feasible for government to provide the required N725 billion in a year because of competing demands.

Meanwhile, members of the opposition in the House have decried the crisis between the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Aloysious Katsina-Alu and the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, They called on the Federal Government to immediately begin an inquiry into the scandal.

The House of Representatives also yesterday directed its Committee on Finance, Justice and National Planning to commence immediate processing of the Sovereign Wealth Fund and submit reports for appropriate legislative endorsement.

The 150-member opposition led by its leader Femi Gbajabiamila at a media conference in Abuja, argued that though the National Judicial Council (NJC) claims to have resolved the matter, the issue should not be swept under the carpet.