Essence Of Information Bill

Information is the foundation for political, social and economic liberty. Viewed from this perspective it is clear that by empowering people with requisite knowledge to appreciate, understand and make up their minds as well as  take their own decision, information fosters participatory democracy and good governance.

Relevant information, no doubt, underscores the effectiveness of electioneering campaigns as contestants would know much better, their proposed programmes and Politics. Similarly, through freedom of information, participation in the political process will be more enhanced as information expands the horizon of economic empowerment and by extension, the empowerment of members of the public.  The more access to information, the more the level of liberty that will be available and attainable to propel economic agents towards desired prosperity.

Information gives guidelines to economic opportunities and integration in expanding value creation and appropriation. Through information all inputs, such as technologies  (radio, telecommunication, internet, infrastructure etc) expand access to information and by so doing extensively spur economic empowerment which at the same time foster good governance. Information is therefore very fundamental.  Information helps to reduce the power hitherto held by politicians and bureaucrats to rule the lives of people unquestionably. Thank God for a person  like Hon Abike Dabiri, representative of Ikorodu constituency in the National Assembly who understands information as a base foundation of life to human. Speaking of information in different perspective we have private, public and government information. Talking about private information, it is that knowledge and awareness which an individual or group of individuals are in possession of, sometimes such knowledge may be commonly available but is effectively customized to advantage of  or  for the use of the person or persons who intend to make use of it. In this kind of information, it has to do with the persons or group that has the information, whether it will be free or not, cause cost are involved in information acquisition, processing and preservation.

Entrepreneurs capitalise on the information available to them only to strive towards profit making and for that reason can pay for its acquisition. This motivation equally runs through virtually all sphere of human endeavour. Public information often  times considered as such by the information source creators i.e. those who do not know how to  utilise them and this let them out. To these people, there is no need of attaching prices or cost to such information, it may also be free at the current time because they have  earlier been paid for in bulk. This kind is applicable to government information.

When we pay tax indirectly we have also paid for information which should be available for the good of every person in the country, for instance, outbreak of bird fly influenza, an earthquake, burst NNPC pipelines etc. That is why national budgets are read to the public so that everybody knows how the money meant for the citizenry will be utilised.

Generally however, public information is free in community meetings, information is shared freely within the membership and even beyond, also in school, pupils pass on information among themselves without restrictions. Government information are treated as if it exclusively belongs to itself under the banner of protecting the lives and property of the citizenry. Certain information are considered as capable of compromising that function if released to the public. Many good example abound in the area of military operations. Government information cannot be exposed for security reasons.

Mohammed is of  Mass CommunicationDept., RSUST, Port Harcourt.

Aisha Mohammed