Reps organise workshop on FOI Act, Tuesday

The House of Representatives will on Tuesday organise a workshop and training programme on Freedom of Information (FOI) Act for Ministries, Departments and Agencies with a view to ensure full compliance with the provisions of the Act.

Chairman, House Committee on FOI, Hon. Yusuf Miga disclosed this during a media chat on the ‘National Workshop set to revitalize Nigeria’s Freedom of Information Act’, held in Abuja, underscored the need for relevant institutions to respond to inquiries from Nigerians in line with the extant law.

He said: “this meeting was convened to brief you on the programme we are holding tomorrow about the workshop and training on Freedom of Information Act, which has been in place since 2011.

“This Act suppose to be implemented across all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for the benefit of all Nigerians.

“But due to the little understanding of these Agencies about the Act, most of the Agencies are not complying with the provisions of the Act.

“As a result of that, we organised the workshop and training so that we can enlighten all the Ministries and Agencies to comply with the Act.”

While soliciting for the support of the Media with a view to achieve the set objectives, Hon. Miga explained that the Committee will conduct periodic assessment on the level of compliance by all the MDAs after the workshop, noting that “if there’s no improvement, we will organise another workshop so that all the MDAs will comply in a full scale every year.”

While speaking on the level of public awareness on the provisions of the FOI Act, 2011, he observed that majority of Nigerians have failed to leverage on the provisions of the FOI Act to get requisite information on the activities of various public institutions.

He said: “sometimes it’s from the people, they don’t request for the information. On their own (MDAs) they will not reveal the information or else somebody requested for it.

“Therefore, from this workshop we will enlighten all the parties, the public and the MDAs, so that if somebody requests for information, it has to be given and there is specific time for giving the response. But if the response is not given, some actions will take place. There will be some measures of punishment for not giving the required information.”

Speaking on partnership with the House Committee on FOI, National Director on Logistics and Mobilization, Hon. Maiyaki Daniel expressed optimism that the workshop will engender greater transparency and accountability in government.

He explained that the workshop was designed to address the 13-year gap in awareness and application of the FOI Act, which was first enacted in May 2011.

According to him, the FOI Act has been poorly utilized by both the public and government institutions, leading to widespread issues in governance, transparency, and accountability.

“Thirteen years after its establishment, the level of acceptance and implementation of the FOI Act remains dismally low. This workshop is critical to addressing these challenges,” he stated.

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