|
Africa Freedom of
Information Centre Launched,
Coordinator Appointed
A network of Freedom of Information advocates in Africa announced on
September 28, 2007, the launch of a regional Centre in Lagos to
galvanize the campaign for the adoption of access to information laws on
the continent. Mr. Babatunde Oluajo was thereafter appointed its
Coordinator.
Known as the Africa Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC),
it will provide technical assistance to civil society organizations in
the region involved in various stages of Freedom of Information work,
including the drafting of access to information bills, advocacy for
their passage into Law, implementation, litigation and monitoring
activities.
The Africa Freedom of Information Trust (AFIT) also
announced, on October 8, 2007, the appointment of Mr. Oluajo as
Coordinator of the Centre. The Centre was established by the network
under the aegis of the AFIT
Mr. Oluajo who holds a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc)
degree (Second Class Upper Division) in Political Science from the
University of Ibadan and a diploma in Banking and Finance from the
University of Jos is bringing to the job a wealth of programmatic and
management experience gathered from years of work in the civil society
sector.
Until his appointment, he was serving as a Programme
Consultant to the Women for Democracy and Leadership (WODEL). He has
previously worked at Head of the Democracy and Governance Project with
Nigeria’s premier human rights group, the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO);
as State Organizing Secretary for the National Conscience Party (NCP);
and as a Research Officer at the Osigwe Ayiam-Osigwe Foundation, amongst
others.
Thirty civil society organisations from 16 countries,
including Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana,
Togo Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Senegal, Benin Republic,
Guinea, Uganda and Kenya,
who met in Lagos on September 22 and 23, 2006
to discuss ways to promote the right of access to information held by
public authorities and share experiences on strategies for advancing the
adoption of laws that fully protect this right took the decision
to establish the Centre.
In the “Lagos Declaration on the Right of Access to Information”
adopted at the end of their meeting, the participating organizations had
expressed concern that Africa was lagging behind in the global drive
towards the adoption of Freedom of Information Laws and agreed to
establish a regional centre, where experiences garnered in the different
countries can be pooled and shared among civil society activists and
which will provide a platform for cooperation and collaborative
activities among civil society organizations in the region.
The Centre is a project of the Africa Freedom of Information Trust (AFIT),
an organization incorporated under Nigerian Laws and will be run by a
Steering Committee, comprising Ms Agnes Ebo’o, Coordinator of
Citizens Governance Initiative (CGI) in
Cameroon; Mr. Edetaen Ojo, Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda
(MRA) in Nigeria; Ms Nana Oye Lithur, Regional Coordinator of the
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Africa Office in Ghana; Mr.
Gabriel Baglo, Director of the Africa Office of the International
Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in Senegal; Ms Priscilla Nyokabi Kanyua,
FOI Project Coordinator at the Kenya
Section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ-Kenya) and Mr.
Patrick Tumwine,
Advocacy and Networking
Officer at Human Rights
Network, Uganda (HURINET-U).
Mr. Edetaen Ojo, who has been designated Director of the Centre, said:
“It is unacceptable that out of about 75 countries around the world that
currently have Freedom of Information laws, Africa accounts for only
four of that number. We expect the Centre to tip the scales in our
favour by energizing ongoing campaigns in a number of countries for the
adoption of such laws and launching fresh initiatives in other
countries.”
Ms Agnes Ebo’o, CGI Coordinator and AFIC
Steering Committee member, said: “The state of access to information in
Central Africa is particularly lamentable as not a single country in the
sub-region has a Freedom of Information Law while there is hardly any
initiative to adopt such a Law. We hope that the Centre can help
generate the much-needed awareness in Central African countries about
the right of access to information and serve as a catalyst for reversing
this undesirable situation.”
The Centre will maintain a physical library and a bi-lingual virtual
resource centre which will provide up-to-date information about the
state of access to information in all countries in the region and
contain the texts of Freedom of Information Bills and Laws in various
African countries as well as the texts of standard-setting documents in
Africa, other regions and internationally.
The specific activities of the Centre will also include:
·
Assisting civil society organizations in different
countries to develop and implement Freedom of Information advocacy,
litigation and monitoring strategies.
·
Building the capacity of civil society organizations
engaged in Freedom of Information work through training and
awareness-raising activities, to improve their skills in research,
legislative drafting, advocacy and lobbying, litigation, monitoring, and
fund-raising.
·
Providing support and solidarity for national-level
activities and efforts in these areas;
·
Building linkages and networking Freedom of Information
advocates across the continent and, in particular, documenting Freedom
of Information advocacy strategies and experiences in countries where
advocacy has been successful and sharing best practices with other
countries;
·
Establishing a database on Freedom of Information in
Africa and other parts of the world to facilitate comparative knowledge
and experience; and
·
Facilitating collaborative action to introduce regional
and sub-regional mechanisms and standards on the right to information in
Africa. |
