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Introduction
[Campaigning for Access to Information in Nigeria]
Since 1999 when
Media Rights Agenda first presented the Freedom of Information Bill to
some members of the House of Representatives to sponsor it in the National
Assembly, the bill has made impressive progress through the legislative
process, although it has fallen short of being passed.
Although the
campaign efforts by Media Rights Agenda and its collaborating
organizations for the enactment of the bill into law have not yet resulted
in its being passed, they have successfully put the issues involved on the
front burner of public discourse.
Initial support for the campaign for the enactment
of the Freedom of Information Bill came from ARTICLE 19, the Global
Campaign for Free Expression. Subsequently, the International Human
Rights Law Group largely supported the campaign. The advocacy efforts on
the bill have been conducted on a three pronged approach involving media
campaigns, activities targeted at the legislators, and activities aimed at
ensuring broad civil society involvement in the campaign, including the
establishment of a Freedom of Information Coalition.
Media campaigns, which have been
a crucial aspect of the advocacy programme, have involved visits to media
houses to meet with journalists, editors and columnists to solicit their
support for the campaign through the publication of articles, editorial
comments and stories on the freedom of information issue; issuing periodic
press releases to highlight developments on the issues; granting of press
interviews on the issue; facilitating publication of feature stories and
opinion articles.
The objective of these
activities was to maintain a high level of public discourse on the issue
of access to information in the expectation that such intense public
debate would persuade the legislators about the desirability of passing
the bill.
There were also
direct advocacy activities targeted at the legislators, numerous meetings,
both formal and informal, held by officers and staff members of MRA and
other partner organisations with members of both the House of
Representatives and the Senate, to solicit their support for the bill.
In order to ensure
broad civil society support for the bill, a series of formal and informal
meetings were also held with representatives of other NGOs and
associations to coordinate the campaign for the enactment of the bill into
law. MRA has also organized a number of stakeholders’ meetings on the
bill. One such meeting, held in September 2000, led to the formation of
the Freedom of Information Coalition.
Since the Freedom of Information bill was the first bill to
be sponsored by a civil society organisation in the National Assembly
after the restoration of democratic rule, this publication is intended to
document the experience garnered by Media Rights Agenda and its partners
in campaigning for the enactment of the bill into law in the hope that
other organisations currently involved in similar advocacy work or
intending to launch legislative advocacy projects would learn from the
experience by avoiding any mistakes which may have been made in the
campaign while being able to adopt those strategies that have worked.
Edetaen Ojo
Executive Director
Media Rights Agenda
Lagos, May 2003
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