Punch
27 Feb 2011
Do we have a Freedom of Information Law? The House of Representatives succumbed to pressure last Thursday by passing the Freedom of Information Bill, coming nearly four years after this important piece of legislation was reintroduced to the Nigerian parliament in 2007.
As late as the effort appears to be, it is still considered a bold step to answer the opening question. Two more hurdles to cross — concurrence by the Senate and a presidential assent — and the law is firmly in place.
One of the most misconstrued pieces of legislation, especially by those who should know (our legislators), the FOI bill has spent a cumulative period of 11 years at the National Assembly and about four years in the current assembly.
This is arguably one of the bills that have spent the longest time in the National Assembly since Nigeria
For the FOI bill, it has been a rough, winding and bumpy ride to passage. In fairness to the 2003-2007 set of the National Assembly, the lawmakers passed the bill but it was former President Olusegun Obasanjo who scuttled the victory party that was about to be held for the bill.
At a most crucial moment in the journey of the bill, Obasanjo withheld his assent to the document in the twilight of his administration in 2007 on the grounds that he did not like the title!
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