BY IKHILI EBALU, BENIN CITY
Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) has appealed to Governor Godwin Obaseki to quickly revisit the Freedom Of Information Bill (FOI) by sending the bill to the Edo State House of Assembly for consideration and passage.
The organization made this known in Benin city while speaking to journalists on the need to revisit the FOI Bil by the Edo State government.
The Executive Director of ANEEJ, David Ugolor who was represented by the Program Manager, Mr. Innocent Edemhanria, said If States have their own FOI law, it will also bring to an end the raging controversy about the applicability of FOI Act at State level where several groups both within and outside Edo State are now in court.
He said the goal is to democratize the civic space and foster an enabling environment for civic space /digital rights in Nigeria by advocating for enabling laws, policies and regulations within the civic space for digital rights and freedom of information.
Edemhanria said so far, “ the advocacy in this regard has paid off in Ekiti and Imo States, where the governors have enacted their own state FOI laws, adding that the effort to get other state governors to take the same step has continued till date as ANEEJ is currently working with Gatefield and other organizations under the “keep it open” cluster program to advocate for the passage of FOI law in Edo, Kaduna and Adamawa states.”
He recalled that during the first tenure of Governor Godwin Obaseki, a draft Edo State FOI Bill was prepared by the legal drafting team of Edo State Ministry of Justice.
He further stated, “ that the bill has been subjected to consultation with stakeholders, including Civil Society Organizations under the Open Government Partnership (OGP) framework. He however said that since Governor Obaseki’s second term in office, work on the draft bill has not been taken forward.”
The ANEEJ boss added that through the keep it open program, we are focusing on advocating for the adoption of laws and executive actions that protect the civic space notably such as “Passage of the digital rights and freedom bill into law at the national level”, “Domestication of Freedom of Information Act at the subnational level in Edo, Kaduna and Adamawa States”.
Dr. Ugolor wonder while the FOI draft received attention during Governor Obaseki first tenure, but since the governor’s second term in office, work on the draft bill has not been taken forward.
According to him, the essence of the press briefing was to again draw the attention of Governor Godwin Obaseki to the draft Edo State FOI Bill and appeal to him to revisit the draft bill and present it to the Edo State House of Assembly as an executive bill for consideration.