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Multi-Party Sponsorship
of the FOI Bill in the Senate Raises Hope of Quick Passage
Twenty-five Senators cutting across all the political parties in the
Senate are jointly sponsoring the Freedom of Information Bill in a
renewed effort to get it pass into law. This is coming on the heels of
assurances from aides to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and several
members and the leadership of the new National Assembly to that effect.
The lead sponsor of the bill at the Senate this time is the deputy
senate leader and Vice Chairman Senate Committee on Judiciary, Senator
Victor Ndoma Egba SAN
Co sponsoring the Bill are Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike
Ekeremadu; Senate leader and Vice Chair, Rules and Business Committee,
Senator Teslim Folarin; Chariman of the Senate Committee on Information,
Media and Public Affairs, Senator Ayogu Eze; Vice Chairman, Senate
Committee on Power, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, Chairman, Senate
Committee on Federal Character, Senator Smart Adeyemi, and his Vice,
Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora.
Other Senators sponsoring the Bill are Senator Effiong Dickson Bob,
Chairman Senate Committee on Senate Services; Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw,
Chairman, Senate Committee on Water Resources; Senator Abubakar Sodangi,
Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory; Senator
Mohammed Mana, Vice Chair, Senate Committee on Integration/Cooperation;
Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Chairman Senate Committee on Sports; Senator
Nimi Barigha-Amange, Vice Chair, Senate Committee Internal Affairs;
Senator Jubril Aminu, Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs;
Senator Emmanuel Paulker, Chairman Senate Committee on Downstream;
Senator Sylvester Anyanwu, Chairman Senate Committee on Communication;
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, Vice Chair, Senate Committee on Inter
Parliamentary Affairs; and Senator James Manager, Chairman, Senate
Committee on the Niger Delta.
The rest of the Senators sponsoring the Bill are Senator Ganiyu Solomon,
Chairman, Senate Committee on Capital market; Senator George Sekibo,
Chairman, Senate Committee on Solid Minerals; Senator Wilson Ake,
Chairman Senate Committee on Employment and Labour; Senator Lee Maeba,
Chairman Senate Committee on Upstream Petroleum; Senator, Zainab Kure,
Chairman, Senate Committee on National Planning; Senator Chris Anyanwu,
Vice Chair Senate Committee on Defence and Army and lastly, senator
Alloysious Etok.
A multi-party approach to the sponsorship of the FOI bill has aligned a
legislative force of more than one-third of the members of the Upper
Chamber of the National Assembly behind the Bill.
The first assurance of a possible quick passage of the Bill came from
the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, when he met with
former President Olusegun Obasanjo at his Ita-Eko residence in Abeokuta,
Ogun State on June 9.
He called attention to the amended senate
rules which states that pending bills can move from senate to senate and
not from session to session.
He said: “The implication of that, therefore,
is that as soon as we settle down and committees are in place, the
committee on information will deal with that matter; they either meet
with the executive to see the areas of their objection so that we can
meet ourselves halfway, or we look at it to override the veto of the
President.”
Also speaking on the bill, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, Special Assistant to
President Umar Musa Yar’Adua said on June 28 that the President was
interested in discussing the resuscitation of the Bill: “with a view to
ensuring a quick passage in pursuit of his determination to instill
transparency and accountability in the conduct of government business.”
The House of Representatives’ on July 10 re-opened debates on the Bill
sponsored by Mrs. Abike Dabiri, and four others. Mrs Dabiri stated that
it deserved accelerated passage, anchoring it on Order XV, Rule 8 of the
House which says: “Bills passed by the preceding assembly and forwarded
to the Senate for concurrence for which no concurrence was made or
negatived, or passed by the Senate and forwarded to the House for which
no concurrence were made or negatived or which were passed by the
National Assembly and forwarded to the president for assent but for
which assent or withholding thereof was not communicated before the end
of the Assembly, the House may resolve that such bills upon being re-gazetted
or clean copy circulated be reconsidered in the committee of the whole
without being commenced denovo".
However,
honourable Friday Itula opposed debate on the Bill citing the House
Standing Order 12 (2), which demanded that legislators be given three
days advance notice on any motion or bill for them to be fully abreast
of details. He said members were only given copies of the bill on July 9
and asked that time be given to them to study the bill so they can make
meaningful contributions. He argued that if debates on FOI bill were
allowed to continue, new lawmakers would be mentally ill-prepared and
therefore unable to contribute meaningfully.
His
submission was upheld by the lawmakers, including the Speaker, Mrs.
Patricia Etteh and debates were postponed on the Bill before the House
went on its annual recess.
Senator
Smart Adeyemi, former President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ)
who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Federal Character has
consistently given assurance that the FOI Bill will soon be sent to
President Umaru Yar’Adua for assent.
He said
on July 31, 2007 that: “The first assignment I want to pursue, which I
have started, is the FOI Bill. I met with the Senate President, Chief
David Mark, who informed me that the Bill will be represented to Mr.
President. I believe that President Yar’Adua will assent to it”, he
asserted.
Mr. John
Odey, Minister of Information and Communications also gave assurance in
this direction on August 13. He disclosed that President Umar Musa Yar-
Adua was ready to sign the Bill as soon as the National Assembly passes
it to him for his assent.
He said:
“We don’t want to interfere with legislature’s duty that is why we urge
people to exercise patience. As soon as they send the Bill to us it will
be assented to by the president.”
The FOIB has been on its legislative journey since June 1999 and eight
years on, it is yet to reach its destination of being passed into law.
The last session of the National Assembly passed the Bill, harmonized it
and sent it to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo who claimed he never got
it. Chief Obasanjo however raised concerns over the Bill including its
name: saying the name should be “Right to Information” not Freedom of
Information.
He also
said he had concerns with it because he believes the Bill did not exempt
information about national security from the general access to
information. He said he was also opposed to judicial review of denial of
access.
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