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NIPC, NOA, NEITI top table
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) has emerged the best in the implementation of Freedom of Information (FO1) Act, an indication that they are top in providing information on public expenditure and other things.
The Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Debt Management Office (DMO), Nigerian Communication Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) and Bureau for Public Service Reforms (BPSR), were among the top 10 Agencies of government that have also improved in the implementation of FOI Act.
At the bottom of the table are; National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Radiographers Registration Board of Nigeria (RRBN).
The information was contained in a Report of a new survey that was jointly conducted by Budgit, Right to know (R2K), Accountability Lab Nigeria, International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), among others on implementation of Freedom of Information (FO1) Act which was released in Abuja, on Tuesday.
The Report indicated that 238 public institutions were ranked based on their compliance to the provisions of the FOI Act of 2011.
The Report noted that two institutions had full proactive disclosure of public information in 2023 representing an 81 per cent decline from 2022, while 32 institutions achieved partial proactive disclosure of public information.
Gbenga Adanikin, Head of FOI Desk, ICIR, in his remarks at the presentation of the report in Abuja, said the Report provides the opportunity to discuss and evaluate the extent of public access to information in Nigeria.
He said: “With the United Nations setting aside every September 28th as the day to create awareness on the importance of access to information, this FOI compliance ranking event theme; ‘the importance of the online space for access to information,’ could not have come at a better time.
“Through the instrumentality of the FOI Act, the ranking brings together multiple stakeholders involved in promoting open governance in Nigeria. FOI Act is one of the major achievements of the administration of the former President Goodluck Jonathan. It was signed into law in 2011. And part of its notable objectives is to ensure Nigerians have access to information in respective Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government.”
Programme officer R2K Nigeria, Victoria Etim, in her remarks, stressed the difficulty in accessing information in public institutions particularly in security agencies who often threaten our members whenever a request for information is made using the instrumentality of FOI.
She also complained about the unwillingness of some of the public institutions to disclosed relevant information, while many public agencies like Federal Ministry of Education have no updated websites that could help Nigerians access relevant information.
