Articles

The Freedom of Information is a law that guarantees access by the general public to most data and information held by government agencies. In Nigeria, the freedom of information law was passed in 2011. the law allows and recognizes third-party applications. Key elements in the law include: - Everyone including foreigners, has the right to any information held by any public institution or others funded by government resources. - The law mandates public institutions to make proactive disclosure of all information in their custody. - The law emphasis written applications, this could be in emails. brails or paper text. - Public institutions have a time limit to grant requests for information. In reality, according to the annual performance report for 2014. 2015 and 2016, prepared by the office of the Attorney General in Nigeria, over 53% of government agencies received "just one or no request for information in the years under review." Also, in 2020, Udeme, a PTCIJ project submitted 162 FOI requests across 36 states in Nigeria. 16 failed to respond on the excuse that the law was yet to be domesticated in the states. Writing FOI - This starts with research; this gives an advantage of knowing more about the subject. It helps in knowing the repository of the information. - Write on official letterhead if available. Ensure your application includes an addressee, addressed, title. - Back up your application with specific sections of the law. Write in a formal tone throughout. In practical form, it includes; - Address of the addresser on the top right corner (if not on letterhead). - Date (top right or left corner) - The addressee (designation and address) - Title - Body - Conclusion (usually some few words to urge actions) - Name and Signature of the addresser. Impediments on the part of Journalists - Overconfidence - Lack of follow up - Poor research and writing - Cost of application Impediments on the part of public institutions - Poor record-keeping - Ignorance - Indolence - National security excuse.