The Freedom of Information (FoI) Act was enacted to promote an open system of governance in Nigeria. It was signed into law on May 28, 2011. It took over 11 years of legislative debate to become a reality. Its main objective is to give Nigerian citizens access to government information, with a view to promoting transparency and accountability, especially on issues that have to do with expenditure in public institutions.
Under this law, a person has the right to request information from any government official in whose custody the information is; the applicant does not have to give any reason why he needs the information. Where the government official refuses to provide the information, the applicant can go to court to force the institution to provide the information. Also, timelines are provided within which the information must be provided to the applicant, and once the time passes, the person can go to court and request an order to force the institution to provide the information.
Equally, to encourage individuals to expose corrupt practices, FoI grants immunity to public officers that disclose information on mismanagement, gross waste of funds, fraud, or abuse of office from prosecution. In addition, the person who receives the information on corrupt acts and goes further by exposing the acts is also precluded from civil and criminal proceedings on grounds of the steps taken to make public the unlawful practices.
At the inception of the current Radda-led administration in Katsina State, it created a Treasury Single Account (TSA) intending to unify all government payments and receipts into a single account in the state. This is seen as a good move to help in curbing corruption. However, no system is foolproof as there is a need for the administration to take steps in ensuring its citizens are encouraged to assist it in checking the pilfering of government revenues, especially since a TSA is like a dam which revenues of government are expected to gradually ‘flow’ into. How will the administration ensure that the flow is not diverted or the revenues mismanaged? The domestication of FoI by the Katsina State House of Assembly as part of state laws will greatly assist in curbing the diversion of public funds and even the supervision of the implementation of government projects since access to public records is made possible for the general public. Citizens and even government officials can assist in raising the alarm when mismanagement of public resources occurs. This can only be done when citizens are guaranteed that the law will protect them, and they will not end up under the bus when corruption fights back.
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As at May 2023, 20 states in Nigeria have domesticated FoI as part of their laws. If Katsina State becomes the 21st, it will assist the Radda administration in reducing the level of corruption in the state public sector.
Aliyu Ibrahim, PhD wrote through [email protected]
