Stakeholders Bemoan Poor Implementation Of FOI Act

The great expectations and excitement that heralded the eventual signing into law of the Freedom of Information Bill (FOI) by President Goodluck Jonathan two years ago are fast giving way for disappointment due to impediments militating against its practical implementation.

At the 5th Annual lecture series organised Friday in Port Harcourt by the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ), lecturers and journalists who participated in the event, expressed worry over the unexpected turn of events as they seek how best Nigerians, especially journalists, could take advantage of the law for improved service delivery to the Nigerian society.

In his lecture titled, “Journalism Practice and the Constitutional Demands On Journalism – An X-Ray of the FOI Act,” Senior Special Assistant to Governor of Bayelsa State, Hon Seriake Dickson, On Research and Documentation and Social Media, Dr Idumage John, identified culture of secrecy, poor record keeping, ignorance of journalists and existence of conflicting laws and national security as major factors working against proper implementation of the law.

Enforcement of FOI, he said, is vitiated in a society where culture of secrecy has traditionally surrounded information about government hence it would be difficult to get information from any Ministry, Department or Agency.

The lecturer, who is a fellow of many institutes, also noted that existence of conflicting laws and national security are other daunting challenges to effective implementation of the FOI Act in Nigeria.

He mentioned Official Secret Act, the Evidence Act, the Public Compliant Act, the Statistics Act, amongst others, as laws contradicting the FOI Act, and suggesting reconciliation of the contradicting laws for effective implementation of the FOI Act.

In his presentation, the Head of Department of Linguistics and Communication Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Dr Walter Ihejirika remarked that though no democracy can survive and thrive without the work of journalists he regretted the poor remuneration of journalists in Nigeria, which he described as pitiable.

“This leads to the problem of scrambling for financial crumbs falling from the table of the rich and powerful,” aid the don.

The impact of the journalists poor situation he said, is a challenge, if not a threat, to professionalism, since according to him, it promotes the brown envelop syndrome. The poor state of journalists in the country, Dr Idumanga John said also threatens proper implementation of FOI as he queried, “How many journalists can conjure the courage to invest their meagure pays in protracted litigations in their efforts to compel institutions to produce information that have overriding public interest.” The UNIPORT don also identified ignorance on the part of journalists as another factor responsible for poor implementation of the FOI Act.

In his paper titled, “Journalism Practice and the Constitutional Demands on Journalists,” Dr Ihejirika disclosed that a survey on 300 journalists in Port Harcourt on the implementation of FOI Act showed that only 89, which represents 31 per cent, have applied for information under the Act.

“Some of the journalists do not even know how to apply for the information, neither do they know what to do when information is denied,” he said and suggested proper and regular training for journalists.

Among the factors limiting the functional role of journalists in a nascent democracy, he said include problem of ownership, and professionalisation in the media industry.

At the end, most journalists who participated praised IIJ, Port Harcourt Centre for organising the programme in view of the immense benefit derivable, and agreed that there is urgent need for the grey areas on the FOI to be cleared and conflicting laws either repealed or amended so as to make best out of the law.

Co-ordinator of Port Harcourt Centre of IIJ, Mr Ibituru Pepple commended participants and promised that the lecture would remain an annual event while urging students to take advantage of the lecture series to improve their knowledge.

Chris Oluoh