THE law (FOIA) gave the public the right to discover what the government was up to, with certain exceptions. It sets out the basic instructions to follow to get information which if improperly withheld by a governmental body, would warrant a court of law to compel such governmental body to disclose or release what is sought from it.

There are, however, some exceptions which may not be disclosed, especially those concerning national security. Notable law enforcement and investigation files (reports), geological surveys or maps of oil wells and locations, details of troops movement during military operations, personal medical records, office of the president, inter and/or intra-agency memoranda, et all.

Nigeria, being a nation in desperate haste to develop rapidly to meet its 2020 developmental aspirations, cannot afford to continue to play politics with the FOI Bill’s passage into law. Passage of the bill is not only a dialectical necessity but a national imperative particularly when it is considered that lack of transparency and openness in governance is the bane of effective budget implementation service delivery and thus, rapid development of the nation.

As it stands, no bill has such long history of awaiting passage nor has suffered the countless setbacks the FOI Bill had done at the hands of a conservative National Assembly, which today is seeking legislative immunity for its members like the president and state governors under the Constitution.

Worse still, the Senate Committee on Information headed by Senator Ayogu Eze, recommended in September 2008 for inclusion with the original bill, a provision which made nonsense of it.

The recommendation read in part: “Information could only be released if such records shall not compromise national security, and that the applicant (i.e. requester) shall have satisfied a State or Federal High Court (i.e. why the information was needed by them) for the disclosure of such information or release of such record(s)”.

The Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda, Mr. Edeaten Ojo, described the introduction of the provision into the bill as absurd.

He said the provision placed enormous burden on citizens who would be required to first go to a court to justify why they needed any piece of information, record or document; satisfy the court the information would not undermine national security, and obtains the court’s approval before even applying to the relevant public institution for the information.

The MRA summarised that the Senate Committee’s recommendations only fell short of killing the bill, since they would encumber rather than facilitate access to information. Senator Eze’s position that the FOI Bill, without the controversial adulteration (provision), would empower and lionize some individuals to hold the country to ransom, has been faulted by many an analyst.

For instance, proponents of the bill have argued that countries like the US , Canada , Australia and Brazil which have functional FOI legislation, had not been held to ransom by civil society groups in those countries. The National Assembly’s fears, as betrayed by the pedestrian argument articulated by Ayogu, only shows how hollow, shallow, irrational, and selfish Nigeria’s law-makers could be when their “dirty business interests” are threatened.

It will suffice to surmise that an effective FOI model, as seen in other more serious nations, will be an antidote for corruption, bad governance, misappropriation, money laundering, contract inflation, embezzlement of public funds, projects abandonment after full payment, fiscal recklessness, abuse of the rule of law and desecration of the constitution by elected leaders relishing in the cocoon of executive immunity.

The passage of the FOI Bill into law is in the best interest of Nigeria . The problem of Nigeria may not be that of an FOI bill meant to facilitate the process of ridding the nation of what is the greatest impediment to advancement and to make it torrid for the apostles of corruption to practice their craft.

The real problem of Nigeria lies with the very people being dignified as leaders in the dark rooms of public offices and corrupting the art of civil governance in this country.

They are the people fighting with every ounce of their strength to keep the flood lights of transparency and openness permanently switched off. In fact, they are the enemies of development who have been working against the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Mr. Alemu  is a  senior  research with ACD foundation.