By Japhet Alakam

EVER since the maiden edition was hosted in 2008, the Wole Soyinka Centre Media Lecture series have become a medium used to examine some topical issues ranging from media and democracy in the society. And as part of the 79th birthday of the Noble laureate which was marked on 13th July, the centre held its 5th edition of the lecture at NIIA, Lagos.

As usual in the well attended event, Nigeria’s corruption and lack of accountability by public officials were the key issues that dominated the lecture .

Speaking on the topic ‘The Freedom of Information Act and the Dictatorship of Corruption and Mediocrity’ Biodun Jeyifo, the guest lecturer, said there was a “crisis of under-utilization” of the Freedom of Information Act, FOIA.

According to Mr. Jeyifo, a Professor of African and African American Studies and Comparative Literature at Harvard University, “So far, even though media practitioners fought for a long time before the FOI was passed, it has not been used effectively,” While acknowledging the importance of the law as a legislation that will open up the vista of governance in Nigeria, Jeyifo wondered whether the law had not come at a time when there was little or no secrecy in the affairs of public officials and their attitude in the public sphere.

High level of corruption: According to him, members of the ruling class carry out corrupt practices with audacity, impunity and brazenness. Professor Jeyifo asked: “What need do we have for a law on access to information when all the ineptitude and brazen corruption of public officials operate not in secrecy but in the open?”

“In the case of monumental corruption and unaccountability of government, people have lost faith that the FOI can work. “We must hold our leaders and government accountable by asking questions, as well as follow the issue to the end,” Mr. Jeyifo added.

Chidi Odinkalu, a lawyer and advocate, noted that it was “rather ambitious” for Nigerians to expect instant results from the FOIA after it became law in 2011.

“In a society in which oral delivery is the way of life, the FOI has no chance,” said Professor Odinkalu, who is the chairman of the Governing Council of the National Human Rights Commission.

“We prefer to hold people accountable to responsibilities which we have abdicated,” Prof. Odinkalu added.

Other guest discussants at the lecture included Abike Dabiri-Erewa, a member of the House of Representatives and Peter Carter, Deputy British High Commissioner.

On her part, Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa said Nigerian citizens as well as government agencies have failed to “make good use” of the FOIA.

“We as a parliament have given this greatest gift of democracy to the people, despite that we were under severe pressure not to pass it,” said Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa, who co-sponsored the FOI bill.

The lawmaker added that the Lower House had instituted a Committee on Reform of Public Institutions whose sole function is to treat FOI issues.

“Quite a few MDAs (Ministries, Departments, and Agencies) have set up FOI departments but nobody is asking them questions,” Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa said.

She further urged the National Assembly to make public the earnings of lawmakers. “It is not even near what everybody is saying. But what we should be saying is ‘Are we doing our job?”

Highlighting the British

example, Mr. Carter said that British government believed in the FOI despite the “occasional embarrassment” it causes it.

Requests for information

Since the Labour Party passed the legislation in 2000, the government receives over 100,000 requests for information every year. The requests rage from the serious to the ridiculous – the cost of the war in Iraq as well as the contents of the British government’s wine cellar – according to Mr. Carter.

“We applaud Nigeria for passing the FOI. In many ways, that was the easy part, the challenge is in the implementation,” Mr. Carter added.

On the issue of corruption, he  pointed out that corruption exists in every part of the world, but in Nigeria, the only difference is that they never get punished. “When we do that is when we will get the solution.”

Earlier in his opening remarks, the Chairman of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, Prof. Ropo Sekoni, asserted that the Centre believes that the quality of investigative reporting should have increased since the Act was passed into law as the nation abounds with talented and courageous journalists for whom the FOIA will be of great benefit.