At a recent technical meeting held to deliberate on the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act Amendment Bills and Advancing Reporting and Compliance Standards, media stakeholders, civil society actors, and government institutions emphasised the need to strengthen the legal framework guiding access to public information in Nigeria.
Lanre Arogundade, Executive Director of the International Press Center (IPC), highlighted the urgency of tightening penalties for non-compliance by public institutions, stressing that accountability must be taken seriously. “We’ve also looked at the question of penalty in a way that public institutions will not be treating these issues with levity and that there should be very strong sanctions,” he stated. Arogundade further recommended that not all FOI disputes should end in litigation, proposing a dispute resolution mechanism to make compliance processes more efficient.
He expressed optimism about the outcome of the deliberations, noting that the meeting brought together a diverse group of professionals, including representatives from the National Human Rights Commission and the Federal Ministry of Justice. “We expect to see a memo that would contain details of possible amendments that would strengthen the FOI Act,” he said.
Pointing to the limitations of the current Act, Arogundade identified a lack of provisions to address digital information management and capacity-building for government agencies. He stressed the importance of updating the law to reflect the reality of digitized records and administrative constraints. “The act… overlooked a number of things. The increasing digitisation of information, digitization of records, including capacity building and training,” he noted, adding that he was confident in widespread support for proposed changes.
Calling on Nigerians to embrace the FOI Act as a tool for democratic engagement, Arogundade urged the public not to view the amendment process as premature. “The right to information is a pillar of democracy. Some people call it the oxygen of democracy,” he said. “I urge Nigerians, whether as individuals, journalists, civil society activists, or community leaders, to make use of this law to request information that affects them from all levels of government.”
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