SUBMISSION OF THE NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS (NLC) TO THE PUBLIC HEARING ON THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BILL ORGANISED BY THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON INFORMATION AND MEDIA ON MONDAY JUNE 2, 2008 AT THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

1. Introduction

The NLC commends the Committee on Information and Media for this public hearing. Our hope is that the hearing would enable the Senate appreciate the enormity of concern among Nigerians over the need to pass the Freedom of Information Bill into law.

This is the third time the NLC will be making submission before the National Assembly. However, we are not tired and we would continue to canvass support for the Freedom of Information bill.

2. Why do we need such a law?

Given the hostility to openness which characterised colonial and military governance, Nigeria has been saddled with a general veil of secrecy over information about government and its agencies. Much of this information is generally classified as top-secret. This has affected the media in several ways. It has also denied the public information that is reasonably required to effectively engage government and its agencies at all levels. Until the recent past, even subventions to some MDA were hardly accessible.

The imperative of official secrecy codified in the Official Secrecy Act criminalises the transmission and receipt of information. In essence, the public is at the mercy of officialdom. The information available for engagement is only those that officialdom sanctions. Often, this is boring and stale bureaucratese packaged in departmental bulletins or press releases that are of little use to the public. Enquiries for information are usually met with studied silence.

Worse still, even the legislature has been a victim as we have seen many instances where the National Assembly had been denied information requested in furtherance of its constitutionally sanctioned oversight function.

3. Good governance and democracy requires openness

Information, according to former US President Thomas Jefferson, is the “currency of democracy”. Good governance and democracy require a general ambience of openness and availability of information in the public domain.

Citizens must be able to question the functionaries and institutions of the State at all levels. This requires that they must have access to information on all aspects of government business. We need to know about public finances, about postings, about the schedules of agencies and officers, about projects, about plans etc. Similarly, the media needs to be empowered to probe governments in the overall interest of the citizens and to promote good governance.

4. Access to information will help to combat corruption

The high corruption in the official realm is facilitated by the severe lack of openness. We believe that if the public space is opened up, public officials will sit up. No longer would public officials and bureaucrats be at liberty to classify documents and information that can potentially expose their breach of rules and their malfeasances. Nigeria cannot make progress in the fight against corruption if the public cannot access information.

Secondly, we believe that the anti-corruption crusade will be enhanced if civil servants are empowered by law to be anti-corruption whistle-blowers. In other words, when civil servants observe breaches in regulations pertaining to expenditures, procurement or any subversion of due process, they should be entitled to protection if they bring such officially to the notice of the relevant authorities. The current legal order impedes and even criminalises this.

5. FOI will enhance effectiveness of MDAs

By prescribing that all MDAs publish their responsibilities, the provision of Section 3 has the potential of enhancing attainment of the overall objectives of SERVICOM and enhance the delivery of the service charters of MDAs.

6. FOI and collective bargaining

For the NLC and trade unions in general, accessing information for the purpose of bargaining and making meaningful input into public and departmental policies has remained a Herculean task. We propose that in the general objectives of the Bill, the need to ease access to information for the purpose of collective bargaining and grievance representation should be expressly recognised.

7. Security and defence-related interests

Some public officers, including the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, have expressed some concerns about opening up official information to public scrutiny and have advanced this as a reason why the Bill cannot be passed. We appreciate that government has legitimate security interests. However, much of the information that needs to be in the public domain are not related to security. Sections 13 to 20 of the Bill contain exemptions that address the security and defence-related concerns of the nation.

In any event, the laws setting up the Armed Forces, Nigeria Police and the intelligence agencies have stiff stipulations already governing information about their mandate and activities.

8. FOI and Declaration of Assets

The Constitution mandates the National Assembly to prescribe rules for the public in order to access the declared assets of public officials. This has never been done.

We wish to call on the Committee to take advantage of this process to initiate the process. It would not be logical to have a general freedom of information dispensation but without eliminating the hurdles to accessing information in the custody of the Code of Conduct Bureau, which is responsible for records of assets of public officers.

Olaitan Oyerinde

Ag. General Secretary