On the 28th of October, a delegation of Swedish Parliamentarians under the leadership of their deputy Speaker, Birgitta Sellen engaged in a debate with Nigerian stakeholders on the freedom of expression in the age of information and communications technology. The Swedes stressed their country’s commitment to freedom of expression since it became enshrined in their constitution in 1766. Sweden is the first country in the world to pass a freedom of information law allowing citizens to have access to any information in the hands of government.
They are also the first country to introduce an ombudsman that would be available to tackle complaints from citizens who feel that their rights have been violated. Presently, the Swedish presidency of the European Union is engaged in a struggle to place EU documentation on open access on the Internet.
The keynote speaker at the event was Dora Akunyili, Minister of Information and firebrand leader of the campaign to rebrand Nigeria. She affirmed Nigeria’s commitment to freedom of expression and access to information. She however raised a caveat against the excesses of freedom of expression especially on the Internet. The internet, she declared, has become an instrument of terrorism against countries such as Nigeria that are subjected to calculated campaigns of calumny, lies, harmful propaganda and pornography.
The Internet, she explained, is an all comers affair where victims have no access to judicial redress. Based on these arguments, the Nigerian government must remain vigilant and defend the interests of the country against such abuses. In effect, she was not as enthusiastic as the Swedes on the benefits of access to information and open governance. She recounted her visit to France when her luggage was stolen at the airport and the incident was not reported in the local press, which is however eager to report any negative report on Nigeria.
The underlying objective of open governance is to promote a culture of transparency and accountability. Access to official information in Nigeria is very difficult, if not impossible as the official Secrets Act classifies almost every government document as ‘secret’. It is impossible to make an informed judgement on public policy in a situation where access to public documents is restricted.
Basic information like salaries and allowances of public officers, public expenditure records, contract details, drafts of the budget and even some parliamentary proceedings are classified as ‘secret’. This restricts citizens’ right to and access to necessary information that will enable them make input or pass judgement on government policy.
Lack of access to official information is also a serious handicap in checking corruption because corrupt public officers cannot be successfully prosecuted due to the absence of tender documents as such documents are classified under the Official Secret Act. As a result, corrupt public officers not only go unpunished; they are shielded by the secretive culture of Nigerian public servants.
The Nigerian public service is largely governed by the official secrets ordinance of 1942, which transforms virtually all information about governance into state secrets. The philosophy behind the act was that natives had no rights to know how the colonial authorities were governing them.
Unfortunately, since independence, Nigerian governments have remained totally committed to this philosophy. The present regime is no exception although the law is clearly in conflict with S. 39(1) of the 1999 constitution, which gives rights to citizens to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.
Civil servants when employed take an oath not to disclose information unless specifically authorised to do so. Both President Yar’Adua and Maurice Iwu have recently asked their staff to retake this oath. This has promoted a culture of secrecy in government. Concern with this state of affairs led to the campaign for freedom of information in Nigeria. It commenced in 1993 when Media Rights Agenda (MRA), the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) and the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) agreed to work together for the introduction of freedom of information legislation in Nigeria. The objective of the campaign was to establish a principle on the right to be informed about administrative documents as a necessary tool in ensuring that citizens can track, monitor and inform themselves on activities of government.
Although the freedom of information bill is the oldest private members bill in the National Assembly, successive legislatures and President Obasanjo have frustrated its passage in into law over the past decade. Indeed, in the last twenty months, the House of Representatives has thrown it out three times already. The verdict of our rulers is no to open governance.