A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on
Monday, ordered the clerk of the National Assembly to disclose to
a group, Legal Defence and Assistance Project
(LEPAD), details of the salaries, emolument
and allowances
collected by members
of House of
Representatives and the Senate between 2007 and 2011.
The presiding judge, Justice Bilikisu Bello
Aliyu, held that the Freedom of Information
(FoI) Act 2011
permitted LEPAD to demand for any public information such as the
details of salaries,
emoluments and
allowances earned by the legislators, stating that they were of public
interest, since the
payments were from public funds.
LEDAP, a non-
governmental
organisation had, in its letter dated July 6, 2011
addressed to the clerk of the National
Assembly, requested
for information under section 2 and 3 of FoI
Act on salary,
emolument and
allowances paid to all Reps and senators from
June 2007 to May 2011.
Following the refusal to
accede to its letter, LEPAD, in September
2011, filed a suit asking the court to compel the
clerk of NASS to furnish it with the requested
information
LEDAP claimed in the suit that the legislators
were overpaid beyond the rate approved by
the law and demanded
refund.
In the suit filed by Chido Edmund Obiagwu on
behalf of the LEPAD, the plaintiff named the clerk of National
Assembly as the
defendant and asked the court to declare that applicant had the
right to the information
under the FOI Act.
However, counsel for the National Assembly,
Yunus Ustaz Usman, had objected that the
information requested
by LEDAP was not
permitted to be
released under the FoI Act, and that the organisation lacked the
locus standi to make such request.
Overruling the objection,
the court held that every citizen was entitled to have access
to public information
under the FOI Act and ordered the clerk of NASS to release the
requested information
within 14 days of the judgment.