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FG’s poor funding threatens FOI act, says MRA

THE Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has accused the Federal Government of undermining the effectiveness of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act by persistently underfunding its implementation.        

The group noted that only one per cent of federal public institutions had allocations in their 2025 budget proposals for FOI implementation and related activities.

This was disclosed in a statement announcing the release of its 22-page report titled “A Vote Against Transparency: A Report on Allocations for Freedom of Information Implementation in 2025 Federal Budget,released on Wednesday, January 15, and signed by the MRA’s communications officer, Idowu Adewale.

 In the statement, the MRA observed that only 13 out of over 1,300 Federal public institutions had provisions for FOI implementation in their budgets, with a proposed total allocation of about 230 million (N230,825,750.00), representing 0.000464 per cent of the Federal Government’s budget of N49.74 trillion.

The MRA’s programme officer, John Gbadamosi, said in the statement that some people might think that the government should prioritise spending on tangible projects like infrastructure and capital projects over implementing the FOI Act. He argued that if the government failed to invest enough in making the FOI Act work, it could put all the other projects at risk of being mismanaged or having their funds misappropriated.

He explained that this was because transparency and accountability were crucial in ensuring that government funds were used properly.

According to MRA’s 2024 report, without adequate investment in the FOI Act, the government’s lack of transparency and accountability could lead to problems with all other allocations and expenditures.

Gbadamosi insisted that effective implementation of the FOI Act would bring many benefits, including increased government transparency, public participation, and trust, and would contribute to a knowledge society, making it essential to allocate more resources to make the Act effective.

 He listed public institutions that had allocations for FOI implementation and related activities as the Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Federal Ministry of Works, and Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.

Others are the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Ministry of Environment, the National Library of Nigeria, the National Commission for College Education Secretariat, the Federal Ministry of Steel Development, the Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation, and the Nigerian Law Reform Commission.    

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Gbadamosi noted that the level of funding in the Federal Government’s 2025 budget proposals for FOI implementation and FOI-related activities by public institutions recorded a significant increase of 96.76 per cent over the level for 2024 in terms of the amount allocated, while the number of institutions with provisions in their budgets rose from 10 to 13.

He insisted that the total amount budgeted for FOI implementation overall nonetheless remained extremely poor.

He said the FOI Act would be ineffective without adequate resources, undermining Nigeria’s democracy and fueling secrecy and corruption.

“It is quite disheartening that nearly 14 years after the FOI Act became law, the Federal Government has, for the most part, failed to provide the necessary financial, technical, and human resources, as well as infrastructure and political will, to ensure its full and effective implementation, thereby displaying a clear lack of commitment to transparency, accountability, and good governance,” Gbadamosi stated.

The MRA report recommended allocating resources to the Ministry of Justice to strengthen oversight and ensure compliance.

The FOI Act, signed into law in 2011, provides that public institutions make public records and information more freely available and provide access to public records and information.



Section 1(1) of the act states that “Notwithstanding anything contained in any other Act, law, or regulation, the right of any person to access or request information, whether or not contained in any written form, which is in the custody or possession of any public official, agency, or institution howsoever described, is established.”

Section 2(4) states that “public institution shall ensure that information referred to in this section is widely disseminated and made readily available to members of the public through various means, including print, electronic and online sources, and at the offices of such public institutions.”




     

     

    Sections 4 and 5 of the FOIA mandate all public institutions to grant or give reasons for denying a request within seven days.

    The ICIR reports that most public institutions have always ignored FOI requests sent to them, thereby undermining transparency and accountability in the public space.

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    In October 2024, The ICIR reported that the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), and the Development Bank of Nigeria emerged as the top three winners of the 2024 ranking.

    A total of 245 MDAs were ranked in the year.

    Bankole Abe

    A reporter with the ICIR
    A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance

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