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Senate Begins Second Reading Of The
Freedom Of Information Bill
By
Osaro Odemwingie
Coordinator, Freedom of Information Coalition
ABUJA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2005: Nigeria’s upper legislative
chamber, the Senate, today began debates on the Freedom of Information
Bill on a controversial note, but the proceedings were inconclusive
and will continue on February 22.
The second reading of the Bill is coming
12 weeks after the first reading which took place on November 23, 2004.
There were no discussions during the first reading as the Senate
President, Senator Adolphus Wabara, merely
proclaimed that: “This bill is hereby adopted as passed for First
Reading,” following a reading of the title of the Bill by the Clerk of the
Senate.
Today’s discussion was led by
by the majority leader of the senate, Senator
Dalhatu Sarki Tafida. Introducing the Bill on the floor of the Senate, he
noted that the bill is not an Executive bill but originated from and has
been pass by the House of Representatives.
He added that the Senate read the bill for the first time on November 23.
Senator Tafida
also observed that the bill seeks to provide the following:
* A right of access
to public information;
* Access to public
information or records kept by government, public or private institutions
carrying out public functions for citizens and non-citizens of the
country;
* Increase the availability
of public records and information to citizens of the country in order to
participate more effectively in the making and administration of laws; and
* The promotion of
accountability of public officers to the general public.
But he added that
although “the intention of the sponsors of this bill may be laudable;
however, I would sound a note of caution for several reasons:
a) the
managers of information so accessed if not properly handled could lead to
serious national security crisis;
b) there are provisions in this bill that conflict with the
Official secrets Act, which is enshrined in the Constitution;
c) our nascent democracy is at its early stages of consolidations,
and a bill like this may, if not carefully scrutinized and its full
implications understood may not be in our best interest;
d) it is well and good to make all information accessible to all
Nigerians, but the general provisions built into this bill may need to be
further analyzed.”
Nigeria, he said,
cannot afford to emulate every practice and doctrine of advanced
democracies. He remarked that the Freedom of Information Act came into
effect from 1st January 2005 in the United Kingdom, after several
generations and long history of democracy and governance in that country;
that society is quite advanced in all facets of democracy.
Senator Tafida argued
that Nigeria’s democracy was not experienced enough to pursue this type of
legislation.
He concluded by
saying that in his view that the committee that will handle the bill
should do a thorough scrutiny and bring it in line with the realities of
this legislation.
However, all the
other senators who contributed to the debate disagreed with the senate
leader. Among the contributors were Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, Senator Ike
Ekweremadu and Senator Yari Gandi. They drew the attention of the Senate
to sections 13 to 17 as well as 19 and 20 of the Bill which provide for a
range of exemptions and noted that the fears raised by Senator Tafida were
unfounded.
At this point, the
Senate President, Senator Wabara, who presided called a halt to the
debate. Pleading that the Senate was pressed for time, he called for
debate to be put off till Tuesday, February 23, 2005.
The Senate had
earlier attempted to discuses the Bill yesterday, February 16, but some
Senators, including the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information,
Senator Tawar Wada; Senator Emma Anosike and Senator Abubakar Danso
Sodangi, spoke against the move and advised the debate should wait till
today when it was originally scheduled to hold. They argued that many of
the senators who had indicated their interest in contributing to the
debate were not present at the chambers while many members of the public
who were also interested in observing the debate would miss out. The issue
was put to vote and senators who wanted the debate held today carried the
day.
The Bill has been pending
before the National Assembly since 1999, but was passed by the lower
legislative chamber, the House of Representatives, on August 25, 2004.
Click here for copy of the Freedom of Information Bill as passed by the
House.
Click here for copy of
the Freedom of Information Bill originally sent to the House
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