ARE we to take the Senate serious when it claimed  while passing the Freedom of Information Bill, it was providing surplusage of freedom? The mere suggestion that there could be too much freedom and access to information is that the type of thinking that quickly tells us why the country will not make much progress soon.

There is too much effort being made to deny people information. The fight continued until when the Senate grudgingly passed the bill that has been at the National Assembly in various versions since 1999.

Surplusage is a legal term for useless statement completely irrelevant to a cause. A layman’s definition will be over abundance, waste, superfluous.  Why would the Senate pass a bill that is superfluous?

“Nigeria is one of the few countries with freedom of information in their Constitution. If it’s in the Constitution, it would amount to surplusage,” Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu said.  He said the bill would amount to “surplusage” since Section 39 of the Constitution provided access to information.

“What we are doing here can’t be more important than what’s already in the Constitution. I suggest we go ahead and pass the bill but it would amount to mere surplusage.”
Senate President David Bonaventure Mark agreed, “All we are doing here is mere surplusage.”

Controversies abound, beginning with Smart Adeyemi, Chairman of the Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs Committee. “What we have here is different from the one that was submitted. They have watered down the Bill so much that it cannot bite. If we bring the original Bill and place it side by side with what we have here, we’ll see that it’s different in concept and content,” he said. Mark ignored him.

“Every citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has a legally enforceable right to, and shall, on application be given access to any information or record under the control of a government or public institution or private companies performing public functions, provided the disclosure of such information or release of such record(s) shall not compromise national security,” Clause 2 of the  bill provided.

Banking, Insurance, and Other Financial Institutions Committee Chairman, Nkechi Nwaogu worried about the ambiguity of the clause. “Who determines whether the report you are seeking clashes with national security?,” she asked.

“We cannot sit here and define national security. If the government says something is a national security, then, so be it. I believe if you apply for the records, then, upon refusal, you can go to court,” Mark told her.

Ahmad Lawan, Public Accounts Committee Chairman was on mark, “This clause does not allow for freedom of information and easy access to records.” FCT Committee Chairman, Abubakar Sodangi, said “The clause is okay as it is. Please, accept it as simple as it is.”

The bias against the bill will continue during harmonisation with the House of Representatives. A law that the Senate sees as unnecessary cannot be much of a law. Why should it be passed? During the harmonisation, the National Assembly should pass a bill that will improve the lives of Nigerians.