Senate President, David Mark
The Freedom of Information Bill, otherwise called FoI Bill, generated so much concern from both its lovers and haters. It is designed to make “public records and information more 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 of disclosing certain kinds of official information without authorisation and establish procedures for the achievement of those purposes; and related purposes thereof.”
To the admirers and promoters, this is a simple bill with the aim to foster transparency and accountability; but to a few number of people, this is an unnecessary bill aimed at reducing governance/government in Nigeria. Unfortunately the opponents who were not too comfortable succeeded in “killing” the bill for some time. However, the admirers of the bill are laughing last.
The torturous journey to the passage and eventual assent to the bill started on December 8, 1999 when the bill was first gazetted. Ordinarily, given the present global sermon on transparency, accountability and good governance, it would have been expected that the bill would sail through the two chambers of the National Assembly without hassle. Alas, reverse was the case!
After a five-year campaign, the House of Representatives on August 25, 2004 passed the Freedom of Information Bill with minor amendments. The process leading to the third reading, adoption and passage of the bill began on August 5, 2004. At that sitting, the House began its deliberations from Section 3 and ended in Section 7, leaving out Sections 1 and 2 that deal with the Title and Interpretation. The House also adopted an amendment to Section 1, which dealt with the title. The House amended the previous title, Freedom of Information Bill 1999 to read Freedom of Access to Information Bill 2003.
Similarly the Senate undertook the first reading of the Bill on November 23, 2004. While Nigerians were hoping for the quick passage of the bill, the Senate on February 17, 2005 began debates on the bill on a controversial note with an inconclusive plenary session. But the bill eventually sailed through the second reading with strong support from most senators.
The National Assembly, however, dashed the hopes of quick passage of the bill as the public hearing on FoI Bill was postponed from March 15, 2005 to March 22, 2005. It was again moved from April 12, 2005 to April 2006.
Finally, reason seemed to have prevailed as the bill was unanimously passed by the Senate on November 15, 2006 after a clause by clause consideration of the bill and the conclusion of the third reading at its plenary session. On February 2, 2007, the National Assembly constituted the Conference Committee on the Freedom of Information Bill to harmonise the two versions of the Bill passed by the House of Representatives and Senate, and on February 14, 2007 the Conference Committee of the National Assembly concluded the harmonisation of the two versions of the bill, paving the way for it to go before the President for Assent.
With high expectations everyone looked forward to April 27, 2007 for former President Olusegun Obasanjo to assent to the bill. The former president declined to sign into law the Freedom of Information Bill, saying the bill, in its form, would undermine the security of Nigeria.
This made the Freedom of Information Coalition (FOIC) launch a signature campaign in support of a petition asking the National Assembly to pass the Freedom of Information Bill into law on September 11, 2007. The final passage of the National Assembly by the present crop of legislators and the assent by President Goodluck Jonathan has put paid to the long torturous journey the Freedom of Information Bill went through.
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