By Austin Ogwuda, Asaba
A Bill seeking to domesticate the Freedom of Information Bill (FoI), successfully passed through the First Reading during the sitting of the Delta State House of Assembly, Wednesday.

Second Reading of the Bill was fixed for Tuesday next week.

Member representing Ughelli North I constituency in the House, Mr. Samuel Mariere moved for the presentation of the Bill.

The Bill reads, “that leave be given to bring in a Bill for a Law to make public records and information more freely available, provide for public access to public records and information to the extent consistent with the public interest and the protection of personal privacy and for maters connected therewith, short-listed ‘Delta State Freedom of Information Bill, 2011’.

Meanwhile, the move by members of the House to probe the activities of the contractors handling mega projects in the State might had been truncated.

Reliable sources said that highly placed people have been allegedly approached begging  for the suspension of the exercise.

The sitting of the Administrative Panel of Enquiry set up by the House which was supposed to commence this week has not commenced and there is no sign that the assignment would take off again as earlier planned.

Chairman of the Panel, Prince Johnson Erijo, who is also the Deputy Majority Leader of the House had last week in a press release called on ministries to submit documents relating to award of contracts since 2007 not later than Monday this week.

Speaker Victor Ochei while constituting the panel gave the Committee two weeks to turn in their report and asked them to commence this week.

And in a swift move the Panel’s chairman, Erijo in that statement said “following the setting up of Administrative panel of enquiry for failed contracts in Delta State by the Delta State House of Assembly during its plenary on Wednesday, all Government ministries/departments/parastatals and their agencies are requested to submit ten copies of list containing details of contracts awarded since June 2007 till date by the Delta State Government and details of the amount of such contracts ranging from the sum of one hundred million naira and above”.