By Lawal Sofiyyat BOLANLE

THE Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) is frustrating efforts to obtain information on a contract it awarded in 2023 after failing to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request sent to it by the International Centre for Investigation.

The Council is a federal government agency supervising pharmaceutical education and practice in Nigeria.

Contrary to its vision and mission, in 2023, the PCN awarded a contract for the provision of a Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Adedeji Community in Ikirun, Ifelodun Local Government Area (LGA) of Osun State to an Abuja-based company, A3 Interbiz Link Services Ltd.

According to data obtained from govspend, a website showing daily financial transactions of the federal government, the sum of N88,354,814 was paid to A3 Interbiz Link Services Ltd on the 29th and 30th of December, 2023 to construct a well-equipped PHC at Adedeji Community, which is yet to be executed.

For detailed information and progress on the contract, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was submitted to the office of the PCN Registrar, Ibrahim Ahmed, on June 28, 2024.

Though the request was received and acknowledged by the agency, it has refused to respond or provide the requested information.

Among other details, the Centre requested for the contract description, name of the contractor, date of contract award, contract execution period, the contract amount paid and the date(s) of payment as well as the current status of the project.

According to Section 20(1) of the Public Procurement Act 2007, Mr Ahmed doubles as the accounting officer and Section 20(2) confers on him the responsibility to ensure compliance with the Act and is liable to be held in case of breach or contravention.

In an attempt to garner information from the Osun State office of the PCN in Osogbo, the state capital, our reporter put a call through to a state officer of the Council, Kayode Atere, and he directed the reporter to the council headquarters in Abuja while claiming ignorance of the project.

“I am at the state office and I don’t have any knowledge about it. Maybe you have to speak to the head office in Abuja,” Atere said.

On the same day, a call was put across to the Registrar’s phone number but the line was switched off. Like Atere’s number, the Registrar’s number was obtained from the PCN website.

Weeks after the second attempt to contact the PCN, on August 13, the Centre sent another reporter to the PCN headquarters in Abuja, to get detailed information on the project but he was told to return the next day due to the Registrar’s absence.

On the 14th of August, the reporter showed up at the Registrar’s office at 10.00 am and was delayed for hours before meeting the Special Assistant to the Registrar, who confirmed that his principal was out of town and redirected the reporter to a staffer of the council identified as Mr Edet.

This reporter was told to submit an official letter but he explained that an FOIA request had been submitted in the past. A search was conducted and it was confirmed that the FOIA request was received and had been minuted to the Department of Planning, Research and Statistics of the agency.

Led by Edet, our reporter was accompanied to the office of the Head of the Department (HOD). To his dismay, he was informed that the HOD was also not around and would not be available till the following week. This happened to the reporter after several hours of waiting.

Thus, all efforts by The ICIR to obtain the information it needs to conclude its investigation have been frustrated by the PCN and its registrar.

About the FOIA

Since Nigeria’s return to democracy in Nigeria in May 1999, citizens, media and civil society organisations have been engaging tiers of government to achieve transparency and accountability.

In 2011, replicating a law that was already in force in many parts of the world, former President Goodluck Jonathan signed the FOI Bill into law to give the Nigerian people access to information on government activities in the custody of any public institution or where the public fund was (or is being)utilised.

The law also mandates public institutions to disclose essential information on their websites.

The law gives a person, group, association or organisation the right to access information from all government institutions and private firms utilising public funds.

It provides a platform to hold leaders accountable, but public institutions like PCN have continued to disregard the law, especially when they have something to hide from Nigerians.

Section 1, subsection (1) of the FOI 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.”

Also, Section 2, subsection 4, of the same Act mandates public institutions to ensure that information requested by an individual or organisation is widely disseminated and made readily available to the public through various means, including print, electronic and online sources, and at the offices of such public institutions.

Should there be any reason an FOI request will not be granted, the Act stipulates that the affected institution must give written notice to the applicant on why the information will not be granted, referencing the section of the Act under which the denial is made.

Furthermore, Section 4 of the Act states: “Where information is applied for under this Act, the public institution to which the application is made shall, subject to sections 6, 7, and 8 of this Act, within 7 days after the application is received- (a) make the information available to the applicant (b) Where the public institution considers that the application should be denied, the institution shall give written notice to the applicant that access to all or part of the information will not be granted, stating reasons for the denial, and the section of this Act under which the denial is made.”

Similarly, Section 5, provides for a public institution to transfer a FOI request to another public institution if the organisation has a greater interest in the information within at least seven days after the application is received.

“(2) Where an application is transferred under subsection (l), the application shall be deemed to have been made to the public institution to which it was transferred on the day the public institution received it.

“(3) For the purpose of subsection (l), a public institution has a greater interest in information if – (a) the information was originally produced in or for the institution; or (b) in the case of information not originally produced in or for the public institution, the institution was the first public institution to receive the information.”

Despite the clear position of the FOIA that any Nigerian who requests information through the Act from relevant institutions be availed the information they seek, the law has been severally flouted as reported by The ICIR in this report and here.