NIGERIA'S FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT: THE PROS AND CONS

Shwarji Goshit & Joy Kaura

The twenty-first century has brought lots of innovations that were never
dreamt of in the past. One of such blessings is the freedom to access
information. However, the reason for acquiring such knowledge/ information
is highly questionable and has become a subject of debate. The most
unfortunate group of people hit by the necessity to access information is
the government and all its parastatals and agencies. The question of doing
things under the guise of "National Interest" and keeping it out of the
prying eyes of hovering journalist ready to pounce on any piece of
information vital or not may soon become history if the Freedom of
Information (FOI) Act is properly implemented.

With the advent of the internet, it has become possible for information to
travel much faster and easier. The increase in the number of media houses in
the past decade has made it very easy for information to be disseminated.
For instance with a click of the mouse, information can be sent to people
anywhere in the world. More so, the presence of handy mobile phones has made
it possible to reach a wider degree of audience within a short period of
time. Interestingly in the past few years, blogging has become increasingly
popular and many internet users depend on it for information (although
information on these blog sites are usually not vetted and may be false).
Most newspaper houses also have online versions of their news to reach a
wider degree of users. The constant use of social media platforms such as
Facebook, Twitter, etc has made this spread possible within seconds.

The question however that still lingers is whether the information being
sent is authentic and if the source is original and can be vetted? Does
every act or omission by individuals or public officers become a headline?
Does every activity of government and its officials or agencies translate
into a headline? For instance, the military might argue that if every piece
of information at their disposal is made public, then most of their
operations will be jeopardized as the success of their operations depends
largely on the secrecy of their operations. Information that was never in
the public eye in the past few years, have of recent found its way to the
public domain. There has been an increasing need for information from the
general public and a constant press for knowledge on activities of
government officials and people in public office. For instance, the quest
for people to know the killers of Dele Giwa has generated a lot of
controversy. On the negative, one will want to ask if the leak of
"classified" documents by Wikileaks is important, necessary or even legal.
Also, many cases which are subject of Police investigations or are sub
judice, have been reported with some degree of accuracy.

The press often called the "fourth realm of the estate" has the duty to
report activities of all the other arms of government to ensure transparency
and accountability in the activities of civil servants and public office
holders. One of the attributes of a good democracy is the level of
information that can be accessed by members of the general public. In
Nigeria's growing democracy, the access to information is necessary. Public
officers and civil servants have to be held accountable for their actions.
Take for instance; information has emerged as to the misappropriation of
public funds by public officers. The passage of the Freedom of Information
Act, in 2011 is a great achievement to the proponents of freedom of
information.

The foundation of the Act is the belief that the government is accountable
for its actions and that the public possesses a right to obtain information
about those actions. This can be gleaned from the preamble to the Act which
states thus:

"An act to make public record and information freely available, provide for
public access to public records and information, protect public records and
information to the extent consistent with the public interest and the
protection of personal privacy, protect serving public officers from adverse
consequences for disclosing certain official information and establish
procedures for the achievement of those purposes and related purposes
thereof".

The Act provides inter alia for the right of information, those who should
have a right or standing to request information under a freedom of
information regime and under what circumstances information may be denied
those seeking them; what departments or organs of government would be
responsible for about their activities and operations. A public institution
shall ensure the proper organization and maintenance of all information in
its releasing information and documents to those seeking them; and
determining the agencies and arms of government to which the legislation
would extend. And the circumstances under which the right to know will be
denied. The Act endows citizens with the "right to access or request
information whether or not contained in any written form, which is in the
custody or possession of any public official agency or institution howsoever
described'.

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011, states as follows:

(1)Notwithstanding anything contained in any other Act, law or regulation,
the right of any person to access or request information, whether or not
contained in any written form, which is in the custody or possession of any
public official, agency or institution howsoever described, is established.

(2)An applicant under this Act needs not demonstrate any specific interest
in the information being applied for.

(3)Any person entitled to the right to information under this Act, shall
have the right to institute proceedings in the Court to compel any public
institution to comply with the provisions of this Act.

The provisions of the Act are explicit enough and go a long way in ensuring
that government organizations provide such information as needed. It is
believed that with the passage of the Act, those conducting Government
business will be a lot more careful, and the Act will help to check
corruption and other forms of unfair dealings.

Section 3 of the Act mandates public institutions to ensure that they keep
record and information in a manner that facilitates public access to such
information. The list of information required to be published or kept in the
custody of a public institution is contained in Section 3 (3) and ranges
from a description of the organization and responsibilities to the functions
of each division, a list of all classes of records under the control to
facilitate the exercise of the right to information under the Act, documents
containing factual reports, inspection reports whether prepared by or for
the Institution, documents containing information in relation to the receipt
or expenditure of public or other funds of the institution among a host of
many others."

A public institution has the duty to ensure that information referred to
above is widely disseminated and made readily available to members of the
public through various means, including print, electronic and online sources
and at the offices of such public institutions. Proceedings may be
instituted by any person entitled to the right of access to compel public
institutions to comply with the provisions of the Act.

Since the passage into law, the FOIA has become a major focus of the media
and other Rights practitioners in Nigeria. It is a widely held belief that
FOIA makes both government and private institution serving public functions
accountable. This is because perhaps freedom of information is the
cornerstone in promoting democratic participation and good governance. It is
indicative that for a democracy to answer its name it must embrace the
spirit of free press in principle and practice because democracy entails
respect and promotion of peoples rights and freedoms.

Like every other Law, the question of applicability has become paramount.
While it is one thing to assent the Act into Law, it is another to have it
fully implemented. The question of the localization of the Act in most
states has become a subject of litigation. Many individuals who wish to take
advantage of the law to access information have been met with serious road
blocks. However, it must be noted that the courts in most instances have
resolved the issues in favour of the members of the public. For example, on
November 18, 2013, Justice S.A Akinteye of the Oyo State High Court stated
that "the application of the Act is for the entire federation; therefore it
does not need to be domesticated by any state before taking effect in all
states across the federation." Similarly, Justice Agishi of the Federal High
Court Enugu Division stated thus "the FOIA is applicable to both federal and
state institutions and that public officers of the states are also subject
to the Act". She further stated that the FOIA covers the whole of Nigerian
States like the EFCC Act, among others and that its aim is to encourage
accountability, transparency, and rule of law, stating that the beauty of
the Act is that it places public interest above personal interest.

Low level of awareness within the general population about the existence of
Freedom of Information Act and how to use it is among the factors inhibiting
its effective implementation and enforcement. With widespread ignorance
about its existence, only an insignificant number of people end up using
them. Even among relatively well-educated and otherwise sophisticated
members of the society, there is only very superficial knowledge of the law,
what it seeks to achieve and how they can take advantage of it. Much of the
public discussion about freedom of information laws gives the impression
that it is no more than a guarantee of media freedom. A major challenge is
how to ensure that ordinary people have a fair knowledge of this law, the
procedures and conditions outlined in them, the remedies available in the
event of a denial of access to information, and most importantly, the
potential impact of the law on their lives. However, the use of this right
to freedom of information must be cautioned and at the same time encouraged,
for instance for the fight against corruption to succeed in Nigeria,
citizens, ordinary citizens must have the right to ask and receive answers
about activities of their representatives and public officers must be held
accountable for their omissions and actions. The caution of such use
therefore must be encouraged as journalists must vet their information
before publishing it in whatever medium. They must stick to and observe the
tenets and ethics of the profession and also comply with international best
practices and be careful not to persecute public officers or government
agencies performing their constitutional duties. They must ensure that they
scrutinize every piece of information at their disposal before publishing
it. Individuals and organizations must be careful not to be guilty of
defamation in the quest to exercise their freedom of information.

It must be noted that the Act is geared towards ensuring transparency and
accountability and not to promote chaos and blackmail. Those who intend to
use these medium must ensure a great deal of discretion is used in the
process of the use of such rights.

In conclusion, Justice Abiodun Adebara states as follows: "Everyone has a
right to access information or records in the custody of public institutions
(which includes relevant private entities), irrespective of the form in
which such information or records are kept. people don't have to provide any
reason for requesting information or records. The Public institutions are
statutorily obliged to create, keep, organize, and maintain
records/information about their set up, structure, operations, et al, in a
manner that facilitates public access to information."

The right to information has a crucial role in ensuring that citizens are
better informed about the people they are electing and their activities
while in government. Democracy is enhanced when people are meaningfully
engage with their institutions of governance and roots their judgments on
the basis of facts and evidence, rather than just empty promises and
meaningless political slogan. The right to information has a crucial role in
ensuring that citizens are better informed about the people they are
electing and their activities while in government. Democracy is enhanced
when people meaningfully engage their institutions of governance and roots
their judgments on the basis of facts and evidence, rather than just empty
promises and meaningless political slogan.

There’s something like gender equality 1

SHOULD we redefine the terminology “feminism” to exclude gender equality? Feminism is a term I feel so very passionate about especially because of its history and the fact that my favourite persons Virginia Woolf, the Bronte Sisters, Susan B. Anthony, Mary Wollstonecraft, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie amongst others, have popularised it.

The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines feminism as the “belief and aim that women should have the same rights and opportunities as men; the struggle to achieve this aim.” The Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary and Thesaurus defines it as “the belief that women should be allowed the same rights, power and opportunities as men and be treated in the same way, or the set of activities intended to achieve this state.”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in her TED Talk defined a feminist as ‘someone who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes.’ In the Senica Falls Convention 1884, where the Women’s Right Movement was born, Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the opening paragraph of her Declaration of Rights and Sentiments which was fashioned after the United States Declaration of Independence stated these: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.…The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpation on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let fact be submitted to a candid world.”

I have always believed that feminism is akin to human rights, fairness and basically equality and have also come to the understanding that many persons see feminism as a form of rebellion by cantankerous females who hate men and want to usurp their positions. These persons confuse feminism with misandrism especially because misandrists identify with Feminism. I am certain that this confusion influenced Pat Robertson’s infamous quote: “The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”

Radicals and extremists exist in every philosophy, concept and ideology and the feminists movement would not be an exception. This, therefore should not in any way sabotage the full meaning of feminism and what it stands for because the key message of feminism is gender equality. And like I read somewhere a portion does not equal a whole no matter how loud the portion is.

On one eventful morning, I had a long, enlightening and thought-provoking conversation with a clergyman in my office, who deserves more than just a worthy mention. He is a sweet, gentle and admirable man, whose attitude intrigues me. On numerous occasions I have seen him step aside to allow a lady regardless of her age, ascend or descend the narrow stairwells in my office. It is uncommon to see middle aged men act so respectably towards women in manner and approach in this part of the world. His point-driven arguments were always constructive with gentle intonations that hardly provoked bristled retorts.

I never had the pleasure of engaging in a long conversation with him besides pleasantries until that morning. After I had ensconced myself in the office, he walked in beaming adorningly. It seemed as if I had turned suddenly different from the person he always saw. This new and warm reception clearly embarrassed me in a flattering way. In quick time he made the object of his visit known. He had heard there was a “Chimamanda” in the office. That was an agreeable metaphor. I love to be associated with the renowned writer. She can do no wrong in my eye even though my submissions to her workshop have been constantly rejected, year in, year out.

Now the conversation flew here and there about the kind of things I like to write and then back to Chimamanda. Truth is, no one can have a literary conversation with me without knowing I am a Chimamanda Aficionado. So naturally her feminist status came on board. Prior to this conversation I was unaware of the clergyman’s distaste of the term ‘feminism.’ I saw clearly, the irritation on his face when he stated how much he disliked the word. I was curious as to why and tried pointing out to the best of my ability that we had the radicals and extremists as it is quite normal in every concept or ideology on earth and the fact that the feminism to which I was referring to was synonymous with gender equality.

To buttress my point I roughly quoted the definition given by Chimamanda in her famous TED talk. But to my wonder, he shook his head and said there was nothing like gender equality and would rather use the word “uniqueness” instead of gender equality and feminism. He added that the Bible does not support feminism. For a moment I was confused.

He had a problem with the word and made a valid and obvious point about the two sexes being different with specific unique roles and biological characteristics. It was on this premise that he concluded that there was nothing like gender equality. He, however, added that if feminism entailed teaching women how to play their roles properly as women in the society, then he could embrace that word.

I expressed my disapproval of the subservient roles women have been forced to take upon themselves by society and the accepted wisdom that these roles include being ‘beneath’ the men. I shared an account to prop my feminism perspective. On a hot afternoon as I walked out of a DSTV office, I was stopped by the call of a self-confident young man, who by the looks of it was a young adult. He was sitting quite comfortably, with legs spread apart on a white, plastic chair in front of a door beside the DSTV office. It was his persistent, raspy “hello” that forced me into turning around to behold him.

He looked at me expectantly as I stood observing him. When he continued sitting I became quite puzzled as to his intentions for stopping me because for a moment, I thought the reason he called was to woo me. Now I became irritated because he wasn’t doing anything besides wasting my time and changing his facial expressions which I must add reminded me of Blackberry emoticons. I raised my eyebrows and my hands to show that I had run out of patience. He beckoned me with his eyes to approach him.

Now, this young man was dressed well enough to be taken for a lucid person. If I didn’t know better I would have thought him to be retarded. I had seen enough to conclude that he was one of the typically misinformed men who approached ladies as if they were properties waiting to just receive an acknowledgement of ownership and not one of the numerous insane men that parade the city of Port Harcourt.

Now seeing he was well dressed, I was more convinced of his sanity. I must add that all these theatrics took place in less than ten minutes. I squinted disapprovingly showing my utter disgust and saw his ego drop as he dragged himself up muttering these words, “I am a man oh, and it’s a man that would pay your bride price.” The message was apparent enough. He was a man and I did him grave injustice by expecting the smallest courtesy.

Now I told the clergyman this story, trying of course to explain what was wrong and the actions by feminists to correct this wrong mentality. I asked what he thought of the scenario and the young man.

TO BE CONCLUDED
Mbunabo, a writer, lives in Port Harcourt

‘Why traditional media must integrate digital platforms’

Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on New Media, Tolu Ogunlesi (left); Chief Executive Officer, Ventra Media Media Group, Daryn Wober; Chief Executive Officer, AIM Higher Consulting, Peace Hyde; Content partnerships Lead, Sub Saharan Africa – YouTube, Teju Ajani and Digital Manager, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Adetomiwa Aladekomo at the ‘Future of Digital Publishing’ to mark Social Media Week in Lagos…yesterday

TO continue to grow its impact, including reaching wider audience instead of a dwindling audience reach, traditional media must integrate digital platforms into its operations. This is because digital publishing will continue to expand its relevance in the area of information dissemination and engagement with the audience.

Different speakers at one of the panel discussions during the Day One of the 2016 Social Media Week in Lagos toed this line. The Guardian, Nigeria, hosted the session with ‘The future of digital publishing’ as theme. The panellists were also of the view that value creation is critical for any digital platform to make the needed impact and resonate with the audience.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ventra Media Group, Daryn Wober, who noted the huge amount of growth and the speed with which Nigerians migrate to the digital platforms within a few years, stated that more innovations, investments and contents would continue to shape digital publishing in Nigeria. He, however, said that digital publishers must stay through to the audience to ensure their platform remains relevant.

Another panellist, Senior Brand Manager, Nigerian Breweries, Adetomiwa Adedekomo, noted that no new media platform replaces an old one completely as the older platform would still be relevant, only not making the amount of impact it used to. He, therefore, enjoined publishers to be more digital savvy in order to help brands better reach audience who are now more available on the digital platforms.

On her part, Teju Ajani said that many people are now on the digital platforms and are going on the digital platforms, including the traditional media. This was why she felt that traditional media must continue to evolve or they die.

For Tolu Ogunlesi, digital platform is shaping the taste of audience, though he felt that the traditional media are not taking advantage of the digital platforms. “If you look at the traditional newspapers, none of them has focused on digital publishing.”

He enjoined the traditional media, which he dubbed the legacy media, to begin to explore the advantages of digital platforms, including having videos on their platform. He also believed that digital publishing takes different formats and digital platforms have varied effect with audience. He said some communities might be very in tune with Facebook, Twitter and Instragram, while in some other communities, it could be just downloading video content and sharing it through phones.

Commenting on content, Ajani said content is key though it is a must and relevant content made available to the audience consistently.

Ogunlesi said that authors and creative minds should not be scared of their works being pirated or stolen on the digital platforms because what is most important at the initial stage is having their works in the public domain so that the audience could appreciate it.

According to him, it is when the audience appreciates the works that the benefits and monetisation of the works become an issue. For him, nobody would see and appreciate a poem or a creative work written in a book that is kept at home.

He, however, said that authors whose works had been infringed upon or stolen on the digital platforms should start going to court to seek for redress.

In moving forward, Ogunlesi said that cost of access and speed are two key issues that are limiting the use of digital platforms in Nigeria. For him, the two issues will always continue to define the use of social media platforms in the country. According to him, it took almost a day for him to get linked onto the Instragram platform when he visited one of the state capitals within the South-West.

Adedekomo said that brands are looking for opportunities to reach the consumers more creatively with the arrival of digital platforms. He, however, said that for advertisers to lash onto a platform, publishers must have in mind how to help the brand reach its target audience, maintaining that the challenge digital platform is creating for consumers and publishers, especially in daily reshaping the way things are done, is not peculiar to Nigeria, but a global one.

He said if publishers give value, it would be paid for whether by consumers or advertisers.

By Gbenga Salau

Stakeholders call for gender equity in journalism

    The Head of National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Ogun State Chapter, Mrs. Bosede Williams has decried the high level of gender inequality in journalism, saying more women should be at the top managerial level of media organisations.

Williams, who spoke while delivering a lecture at a workshop on ‘Gender Sensitive Reporting’ organised by the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) also advised women journalists to include gender-based issues into news reporting in order to ensure equity in the country. She also urged women journalists in the country to avoid using their bodies to solicit for favour in the course of their journalism career, noting that their dignity should be paramount.

Williams, who charged her colleagues to be self-disciplined, stressed that as professionals they should always strive to uphold the ethics of journalism, as this would enable them compete favourably with their male counterparts.

Similarly, in her paper titled ‘Media and Gender Stereotyping: Women, Girls Focus,’ Lagos State Chairperson of NAWOJ, Dupe Olaoye-Oshinkolu, noted that journalism in Nigeria had advanced but that it was yet to attain full professional status, and added, “Journalism is a calling and not a means of making a living”.

In her remarks, the national President of NAWOJ, Mrs. Ifeyinwa Omowale, said the workshop was aimed at boosting the professional status of women journalists, and added that it was designed to hold across the country for all members to benefit.

By Charles Coffie Gyamfi, Abeokuta