By Akpo Mudiaga-Odje

It is great for the open society and notion of access to government information. It remains to be seen how it will work out. But a new vista of litigation will open in the shape of judicial review of access requests.”

Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, S.A.N (former president of the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, saying that the passage of the FoI Bill would trigger off a lot of things.)

In a bold attempt to implant more ingredients of democratic values into Nigeria, the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan finally signed into law the Freedom of Information Bill as passed by both chambers of the National Assembly.

Whilst applauding this move by Mr. President and Parliament, (specifically our iron lady Abike Dabiri Erewa and the sagacious Senator Smart Adeyemi) and all stakeholders in this respect, this discourse attempts to throw light on the potential constitutional challenge that this law will face vis-à-vis the right of Nigerians to get access to Asset Declaration Forms of public officials especially those in elective position.

Theme of the FoI Act

The general theme of the Act is to grant access to information contained in public documents, records and allied matters. Indeed as the name implies, Freedom of Information is to give room for more transparency in government and governance.

This philosophy is captured in Section 2 (1) of the Act which pungently declares that:

“Notwithstanding anything contained in any other Act, Law or Regulation, the right of any person to access or request information, whether or not contained in any written form, which is in the custody or possession of any public official, agency or institution howsoever described, is hereby established.”

The above provision has now elevated our hitherto privilege to public information to a right to public information.

Destruction or falsification of records

“It shall be a criminal offence punishable on conviction by a competent Court with a minimum of 1 year imprisonment for any officer or the head of any government or public institution to which this law applies to willfully destroy any records kept in his/her custody or attempts to doctor or otherwise alter same before they are released to any person, entity or community applying for it.”

The above is encapsulated in by Section 12 (1) of the Act.

Right to access information.

This right is preserved under Section 2 (2) of the Act which asserts that:

“An applicant herein need not demonstrate any specific interest in the information being applied for.

(3) Any person entitled to the right to information under this Bill,            shall have the right to institute proceedings in a Court to compel         any public institution to comply with the provisions of this Act.”

It is most gratifying to note that an applicant or public spirited citizen need not have any specific interest in the information sought, yet, he or she must be obliged as the law adumbrates above.

These are some of the pungent provisions of this laudable Act. Indeed, we have the Whizzle Blowers Act in Ghana with a similar theme and provisions to encourage the flow of information regarding governance to the governed.