When the Supreme Court, on April 11, 2025, ruled that the federal Freedom of Information (FoI) Act of 2011 applies to all tiers of government, including state governments, many Nigerians, including Kwarans, celebrated the ruling as a victory for transparency and accountability. The apex court’s judgment signalled an end to the impunity of state officials who had always rejected or failed to honour FoI requests on the claim that the Act did not apply to states.
However, barely a month after the ruling, Kwara State Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, who doubles as chairman, Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), transmitted a fresh FoI Bill to the State House of Assembly for consideration and passage. The proposed legislation, laden with restrictive and controversial clauses, has been described by many as a desperate and veiled attempt to suppress citizens’ access to public information and shield government spending from scrutiny.
What is surprising is that, for nearly six years, this same governor, in apparent collusion with the State Assembly, stalled efforts to domesticate the federal FoI Act in Kwara. Now, just weeks after the Supreme Court’s unequivocal verdict affirming the FoI applicability at all levels of government, he rushed to draft and submit a new bill to the House, which is seen as an attempt to undermine the ruling of the apex court.
A particularly contentious provision in the governor’s proposed bill stipulates that no information can be disclosed without the prior written consent of the governor. Even more troubling, it absolves public officials of any liability for failing to release information, if the delay stems from awaiting the governor’s approval.
Specifically, Section 31(1) of the bill states: “Notwithstanding any provision of this Law, no information shall be made available to any applicant without the prior consent of the governor in writing.” Section 31(2) goes further to shield officials from accountability: “No one acting pursuant to this Law shall be liable in any way if non-compliance with the sections in the Law is due to delay in the governor granting his consent.”
These provisions of the Kwara State version of the FoI bill not only contradict but also undermine the very spirit of the FoI Act (2011), enacted to promote transparency and accountability in governance by granting citizens unrestricted access to public information and records. By making the governor the ultimate gatekeeper of information, who decides what information to release or not, the Kwara FoI bill rewrites the rules in favour of secrecy, opacity and executive overreach, a clear departure from democratic norms.
Since last week when details of the proposed bill surfaced online, it has sparked widespread debate and condemnation, particularly over its restrictive provisions. During the public hearing to discuss the bill on May 19, 2025, many of the stakeholders in attendance vehemently criticised Section 31 of the bill. While members of civil society groups, representatives of the Kwara State chapters of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) unanimously called for the removal of the section, citing its variance with federal FoI Act and incompatibility with the principles of open governance, the state branch of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) asked that the controversial section be re-examined and subjected to further consultation.
However, despite the overwhelming opposition and condemnation of the bill, the House, led by Speaker Yakubu Danladi, passed the bill on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, without removing the controversial clauses. This move of the assembly has further eroded public trust in the institution that’s increasingly seen as serving the governor’s interests rather than those of the people.
The passage of this bill simply makes the governor the sole gatekeeper of public information, undermining the democratic principles of transparency and accountability. It, no doubt, poses a serious threat to the anti-corruption fight in Kwara State. The legislation effectively shields budgetary and procurement processes from public scrutiny. Worse still, it offers government officials a convenient excuse to ignore FoI requests indefinitely, simply by citing a pending “governor’s consent.”
This development stands in stark contrast to Abdulrazaq’s repeated claims of having “nothing to hide” and being committed to open and transparent governance. If anything, the bill contradicts those assertions and raises deeper questions about the governor’s true stance on accountability.
With this controversial bill now awaiting governor’s signature, the NGF chairman risks setting a dangerous national precedent. Governors in other states, particularly those with something to hide, will see in Kwara’s legislation a ready-made template for rolling back transparency, entrenching secrecy in governance and aiding corruption in their own states.
It is important to remind Abdulrazaq and the House of Assembly that this new bill could lead Kwara to breaching its obligations under the national Open Government Partnership (OGP) action plan that the state signed onto a few years ago. OGP is a global initiative that promotes open government practices. Participating states acknowledge that opening government to public input and oversight can lead to more effective and credible governance.
Abdulrazaq and the lawmakers should also be told that Section 31 of the newly passed Kwara FoI bill (2025) has the potential to negatively impact Nigeria’s commitment to the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), which obliges state parties to enhance transparency in public administration and ensure public access to information (Article 10). By installing the governor as the sole gatekeeper of public records, Kwara is poised to undermine both national and international standards of accountability
If this bill is allowed to fly, it will undermine and frustrate the efforts of civil society actors, fact-checkers, and investigative journalists who serve as watchdogs of the society and hold government institutions and officials accountable. This is why it is pertinent for concerned civil society groups in and outside Kwara State, as well as the national secretariat of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) to step up advocacy against the bill and seek an injunction to block the governor from assenting to or implementing the bill.
Similarly, the Attorney-General of the Federation is also urged to invoke Section 174 of the Constitution to protect the supremacy of a federal FoI Act and stop the Kwara State Government from enforcing a different FoI Act. Section 4(5) of the 1999 Constitution states that if any law enacted by state House of Assembly is inconsistent with any law validly made by the National Assembly, the law made by the National Assembly shall prevail, and that other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void. By directly contradicting the federal FOI Act, the Kwara bill is on a collision course with the Constitution.
Global donors and development partners – including the World Bank, UNICEF, the US government, and the European Union — who are funding projects in Kwara State are encouraged to pressure the state government to stop the implementation of its new FoI bill. The development partners should make future disbursements to the Kwara government conditional on compliance with federal FoI Act.
Meanwhile, civil society organisations and journalists who work in Kwara and are following the money and exposing frauds are encouraged to keep submitting FOI requests under the federal Act; every refusal or delay will build the evidentiary record for court action. Abdulrazaq’s draconian FoI bill is an attack on democracy and a boon to corruption. It must not be allowed to stand.
•Muritala is a media and development practitioner, Ilorin, Kwara State. He can be reached via [email protected]