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MRA Targets Professional
Groups in Renewed FOI Campaign
In a renewed bid to garner widespread civil
society support for the campaign for a Freedom of Information Act in
Nigeria, Media Rights Agenda (MRA) is targeting professional groups and
associations to solicit their support and involvement in advocacy efforts
for the passage of the Freedom of Information Bill into law.
Over the last three months, with support from
the European Commission (EC), delegations from MRA have met with the
leaders and representatives of professional associations and bodies to
brief them on the status of the campaign and seek their continued support
and specific commitments to assist in the process. The project is also
being used to introduce the bill to professional bodies and associations
that were not previously aware of the Bill and seek their support in the
process for its enactment.
MRA plans to meet with over 30 of such groups
from such diverse fields and sectors, including business, entertainment,
law, accounting, security, banking, religion, pharmaceuticals, management,
advertising, etc. to explore possibilities of collaborative projects aimed
at galvanizing broad civil society pressure on the relevant institutions
and authorities of government to pass the Bill into law in the shortest
time possible.
MRA also hopes to reach the wider membership of
the professional groups and associations to ensure greater public
awareness about the Bill and improve their understanding of its content
and purpose.
The organization has met with the Institute of
Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN), the
Manufacturers Association Nigeria (MAN), the National Association of
Chambers of Commerce and Industries (NACCIMA), Concerned Professionals,
the Ikorodu and Ikeja branches of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the
Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks, the Lagos branch of
the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), the Nigerian Association of
Small and Medium Enterprises, and the Lagos State branch of the Nigerian
Institute for Safety Professionals as well as its national leadership.
The ICSAN described the Bill as a tool for
restructuring the nation, pledging to lend its support to the advocacy
efforts. The Registrar of the Institute, Mr. Dele Togunde, said the task
of getting the Bill passed into law should not be left to MRA and a few
other organizations alone. He promised to make a formal recommendation to
the council of the institute on what its role should be in the advocacy
campaign, after which MRA would be invited for further consultation on how
the institute can play a role.
Other professional bodies which MRA plans to
meet with include the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN),
the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), the Independent
Broadcasters Association of Nigeria (IBAN), the Nigerian Guild of Editors
(NGE), the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the National Association of
Women Journalists (NAWOJ), the NBA at its national level, the Institute
of Chattered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), the Nigerian Society of
Engineers (NSE), the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), the
Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria
(PSN), the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the Nigerian
Stock Exchange (NSE), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and the Nigerian Labour
Congress (NLC).
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