Nigeria’s democracy depends on transparency and accountability to thrive. And without accessible information, how do we even begin to hold anyone accountable?

Access to information, by all, is a fundamental human right, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, (article 19), highlighted some of these rights as – “the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers”. However, the journey to freedom of information in Nigeria has faced challenges. The initial attempt to introduce the bill in 1999 was met with resistance primarily from those who feared that such transparency could expose corruption and inefficiencies (more here and here). Despite the setbacks and rejections, advocates of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act remained persistent, underscoring  the importance of an informed citizenry in holding government officials accountable. The passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act in Nigeria in 2011 marked a significant milestone in the realm of transparency and accountability. The FOI Act reinforces the principle that transparency is essential for good governance and, empowering citizens to hold public institutions accountable by “guaranteeing access to information” (Section 1).

Despite all the progress in promoting transparency and accountability, the FOI Act has not fully realized its potential and even though the Act is intended to empower citizens by providing them with the legal means to access information, its effectiveness has been hampered.  Issues remain about the FOIA’s usefulness and how it may be improved to produce a more informed and involved populace – and more importantly, are the citizens taking advantage of this, to make a difference?

The FOIA Making a Difference

The FOI Act adequately equips   Nigerians to get information from public institutions, and this proves a step in the right direction. It has also empowered Nigerians to take institutions to court, for breach of disclosure. A few examples are highlighted below:

• Several cases by the Public and Private Development Center (PPDC) – link
• In other incidences, a group called SERAP used the FOIA to fight the Government to reveal details about money recovered from the Abacha loot, by the previous administrations of Olusegun Obasanjo, Musa Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan, and Buhari amounting to $5 billion, securing a court order for the disclosure. This is a major achievement for holding the government accountable. (reference)
• A court decision, (in Martins Alo case) strengthened the FOIA by requiring all states to follow its rules.

The FOIA is a great step forward, but alas, there are still challenges and room for improvement;

• The reluctance of some government offices to comply with FOIA requests points to a bigger issue of institutional barriers. It has been seen that these government offices deliberately withhold information from people about the FOIA or pose difficulty for people to get information. This can be demonstrated by an experience of PPDC which was encountered when MDAs refuse to accept FOI request letters or create barriers, they are effectively shielding themselves from scrutiny, which contradicts the purpose of the FOIA. Another example can be seen when a PPDC staff was deliberately delayed for the whole day and was not attended to. This underscores the hostile environment that can exist for those attempting to exercise their rights.
• Another issue is that a lot of Nigerians don’t know much about the FOIA. The lack of awareness is a significant impediment to its effectiveness and if people don’t know that they have the right to access information, they won’t use it. The existence of other laws that clash with the FOIA, such as the Oath of Secrecy, creates confusion and can be used as an excuse to deny requests.  This can make it difficult to know what information should be released – Like the Oath of Secrecy, for example.

Enter PPDC: Helping Nigerians Use the FOIA

At the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), we advance transparency and accountability by providing support to  Nigerians on how to effectively use the FOI Act. We do this in ways:

• Educate stakeholders about their right to information and the FOIA.
• Guide stakeholders on how to make effective requests from the government (FOI Request letter).
• Advocate for stronger implementation.
• Engage in the annual FOI ranking exercise, in partnership with other organisations like the MRA, R2K, BudgIt, ICIR, and Accountability Lab, to rank MDAs according to their level of disclosure and proactiveness to the FOI Act.

PPDC doesn’t just enlighten people on the FOIA and how to use it, we have also developed some technological solutions to simplify processes for citizens. PPDC helps to bridge the gap between the legal framework provided by the FOIA and its practical application, making it a more effective tool for civic engagement and government accountability in Nigeria. 

Budeshi: This is a website that tracks how well government agencies follow FOIA rules when it comes to public spending. It was built, using a global standard called the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) and shows how much information each agency releases, so people can easily track, analyze, and/or compare them. This is a great way to hold the government accountable for how they spend our public money.

• Budeshi‘s success has inspired other countries in Africa to create similar tools. For example, the African Freedom of Information Centre supported the development of the Open Data dashboard in Uganda, which works in the same way, with PPDC as part of the working group, (more reference here) making public spending information more accessible to everyone.

FOI Ranking: PPDC currently leads the performance of the FOI which is done by measuring how well government agencies follow the FOI Act and disclose information proactively, and on request by stakeholders.

Every year, we, the PPDC alongside a cohort consisting of The ICIR, BudgIT Nigeria, Media Rights Agenda, Right To Know Nigeria, and Accountability Lab Nigeria, release a “report card” called the FOI Ranking and deploy the website for the ranking. This ranking reviews over 200 ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to see how well they are performing. We consider factors like how quickly they respond to FOI requests if they proactively share information on their websites, and how much information they give out when asked for.

By providing these tools mentioned, and fighting for stronger FOI implementation, the PPDC is empowering Nigerians to be informed citizens and hold their government accountable. We use the FOI Ranking to not only hold MDAs accountable but also to encourage them to share information more openly. After all, as Gloria Ahmed, National Coordinator of Open Government Partnership, says – access to information is a “critical tool to help the government succeed”

Final words – A Call to Action

The Power of Informed Citizens can not be over-emphasized in the journey toward a free, transparent, and accountable government. The Freedom of Information Act is a powerful tool to have in the arsenal, for encouraging transparency and accountability in government. Its effectiveness heavily relies on active citizen participation. We must all educate ourselves about our right to information and leverage the Act, to hold public institutions accountable. 

The Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC) plays a crucial role in empowering citizens by offering valuable guidance and support to make the FOI request process more accessible. The PPDC believes that through informed participation and collaboration with CSOs, true and complete access to information can be achieved in Nigeria.