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25 May 2011
The Freedom of Information Bill, passed early this year by the National Assembly, is inches away from becoming law after both chambers yesterday finally approved a harmonised version.
A few days before the end of the current administration, the longstanding document now awaits only presidential assent to become law, the crucial stage it failed to scale after a similar passage in 2007.
Lawmakers finalised work on the bill yesterday after the house of representatives and the senate separately agreed with a conference report that reconciled differences in the bills passed by the two chambers in February this year.
“We said we were going to pass it and we have done it,” said Ayogu Eze, the chairman Senate committee on Media.
Work on the bill was restarted afresh by the outgoing assembly after former President Olusegun Obasanjo refused to append his signature to the one passed by the last legislature in the twilight of his administration.
Almost four years after that setback, the House of Representatives passed the bill. It has been renamed the Right of Information Bill 2011.
The bill is expected to allow Nigerians easy access to information on government activities.
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