The Federal Ministry of Information and Culture today joined the
growing list of public officials and institutions accused of undermining
the effectiveness of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, 2011 as
Media Rights Agenda (MRA) named the Ministry this week’s inductee into
the “FOI Hall of Shame”.
MRA
said in a statement in Lagos that it inducted the Ministry into the FOI
Hall of Shame for its flagrant violation of the several provisions of
the FOI Act, including failing to designate an appropriate official of
the Ministry to receive requests for information from members of the
public; failing to publish the title and contact details of such an
official as required by the FOI Act and the Implementation Guidelines
issued by the Attorney-General of the Federation; and refusing to accept
requests for information from members of the public on the excuse that
it does not have an official designated for that purpose, contrary to
Section 2(3)(f) of the FOI Act.
The
organization also accused the Ministry of refusing to meet its
proactive disclosure obligations under Section 2(3), (4) and (5) of the
FOI Act; failing to provide appropriate training for its officials on
the public’s right of access to information held by the Ministry and the
effective implementation of the Act as required by Section 13 of the
Act; unjustifiably refusing to disclose information to members of the
public seeking information from it under the FOI Act; and persistently
failing to submit its annual report on its implementation of the Act to
the Attorney-General of the Federation as required by Section 29 of the
Act and the Attorney-General’s FOI Implementation Guidelines.
According
to MRA, over the last six years since the FOI Act came into force, the
Federal Ministry of Information and Culture has submitted only one
annual report to the Attorney-General of the Federation, which was the
report it submitted in 2012 for the fiscal year, 2011, but has
subsequently disregarded its statutory duty to turn in its reports by February 1 of each year over the last five years.
MRA’s
Programme Manager in charge of Freedom of Information, Mr. Ridwan
Sulaimon, said: “It is tragic that an institution such as the Federal
Ministry of Information, which is supposed to be the information gateway
to the government of Nigeria and which claims that its mandate includes
the management of ‘a
dynamic public information system that facilitates access by the
citizens and the global community to credible and timely information
about our nation’ can be in such shameful violation of a Law aimed at
enabling citizens obtain information from public institutions.”
According
to Mr. Sulaimon, “Given the position and responsibilities of the
Ministry of Information and Culture, it should be a shining example to
other agencies of government in the implementation of the FOI Act and in
ensuring that citizens have access to information in an efficient and
timely manner. It should, indeed, be able to facilitate access for
citizens to information held by other ministries, departments and
agencies of government. Unfortunately, the only example it appears to be
setting is in enthroning a culture of impunity.”
MRA
therefore called on the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister
of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) as well as the National Assembly,
as the oversight bodies in charge of ensuring the implementation of the
Act, to take steps to enforce compliance by the Ministry and other
government agencies in similar situations, with the provisions of the
Act.
Media
Rights Agenda launched the “FOI Hall of Shame” on July 3 to draw
attention to public officials and institutions that are undermining the
effectiveness of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 through the
actions, decisions or utterances.
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