Anger Against the "Honourables"
By Modupe Ogunbayo
Monday, May 12, 2008
Journalists and officials of the U.S Public Affairs office decry the treatment given the freedom of information bill by the House of Representatives
The World Press Day, May 5, provided a forum for Nigerian journalists and officials of the Lagos bureau of the Public Affairs Section of the United States who gathered at the Lagos' secretariat of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, to vent their anger over the non-passage of the freedom of information, FOI, bill. The House of Representatives last week failed to consider the bill because it wants to study the observations raised by former President Olusegun Obasanjo over the bill before making a decision. Obasanjo failed to give assent to the bill after it had been duly passed by the two arms of the National Assembly.
Gbenga Adefaye, editor, Vanguard daily newspaper, condemned the action of the House. He argued that while the world was counting the gains of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Nigeria was still throwing away a bill that would enhance the free flow of information. He said by stepping down the bill, the legislators were inadvertently putting hurdles on the way of democracy's growth in Nigeria. It also violates the Nigerian constitution, especially Section 39 of the 1999 constitution, he said.
Passage of the bill is mutually beneficial to the public and the media. It is not to be perceived as being advantageous to the media alone or as a tool in the hands of the media to expose dirty deeds of politicians. "It is the systemic documentation of public records for public consumption," Adefaye said. This is based on the public's right to know these facts to ensure accountability. Therefore, its enactment is not to the media's advantage but for the entire general public.
Waheed Oba, chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, Lagos, also said setting aside the FOI bill is retrogressive for the development of the Nigerian democratic process. He said the National Assembly should shun the erroneous impression that the FOI bill was for the benefit of the Nigerian press alone. Rather, the FOI bill seeks to make information available for public scrutiny within a specified time frame.
Ajibola Ogunshola, president, Newspaper Proprietors' Association of Nigeria, NPAN, was also miffed at the development. In a statement, he said if the National Assembly had passed the bill before now, the country would not need to waste its time and financial resources on the probes currently going on because the public would have had access to the necessary information. "The House members have called to question their commitment to, and the real intentions of, the probes embarked upon by the House," the statement said. Ogunshola warned that if the bill was not passed into law now, the country would have to wait for the exit of the present government before it could know how government funds were spent.
Tim Gerhardson, the public affairs counsellor, declined comments on the development but simply quoted Abraham Lincoln: "Let the people know the facts and the country will be safe," to illustrate the need for openness and transparency in government. He also added that the Nigerian press must continue to be the watchdog of the society.
The World Press Day event was organised by the Lagos chapter of the NUJ.
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