[size=14pt]Lawmakers send information bill to president for approval[/size]
BY INI EKOTT
May 25, 2011 12:14AM

The Freedom of Information Bill, passed early this year by the National Assembly, is inches away from becoming law after both chambers yesterday finally approved a harmonised version.

A few days before the end of the current administration, the longstanding document now awaits only presidential assent to become law, the crucial stage it failed to scale after a similar passage in 2007.

Lawmakers finalised work on the bill yesterday after the house of representatives and the senate separately agreed with a conference report that reconciled differences in the bills passed by the two chambers in February this year.

“We said we were going to pass it and we have done it,” said Ayogu Eze, the chairman Senate committee on Media.

Work on the bill was restarted afresh by the outgoing assembly after former President Olusegun Obasanjo refused to append his signature to the one passed by the last legislature in the twilight of his administration.

Almost four years after that setback, the House of Representatives passed the bill. It has been renamed the Right of Information Bill 2011.

The bill is expected to allow Nigerians easy access to information on government activities.

It provides right of access to public information or records kept by governments, public institutions or private bodies carrying out public functions for Nigerians, while protecting public officers who disclose information under the law.

The bill also compels public offices to keep accurate and up-to-date records of their activities and provide absolute access to applicants who do not need to demonstrate any specific interest in the information being requested.

A matter of bureaucracy

The document was first introduced in 1999 as a non-member bill sponsored by the Media Rights Agenda, a non-governmental organisation.

After the House passage, officials of Mr Jonathan’s government said they believed he would be disposed to signing the bill and ending its long journey to becoming law.

But with barely days to the end of the administration, there are concerns over whether the president, already faced with a backlog of unattended bills, will append his signature soon enough to forestall a relapse of the legislation.

That state of affairs is also complicated by a bureaucratic transmission of completed bills from the national assembly to the president. Lawmakers yesterday refused to state when the document would be sent to Mr Jonathan. The president still has the Climate Change Commission bill before him, sent since December 2010.

He is expected to receive the 2011 budget amendment currently being worked on by the lawmakers.

The Speaker of the House, Dimeji Bankole, said in March that the president would be “reminded” to sign the bill after its passage.

As the House winds down its sixth assembly, it announced on Tuesday that 145 bills had been passed between 2007 and date, out of a total 481 that it received.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/5704566-147/story.csp

Fresh Air!!!

Great News.

Waiting for the signing.

I'll wait to read the final bill before I rejoice. I'll wait to see what they'll allow as public information and what they are retaining as "state secrets"

I'll wait.

If GEJ passes this bill shame on the haters who I remember said all sorts of things about him before the election!!!!

Haters we are waiting for the ministerial appointment and it would be a big shame on u people if the names u have been mentioning on NL!!! Lossers like the fool they are supporting the vempire BUHARI

Haters we are waiting for the ministerial appointment and it would be a big shame on u people if the names u have been mentioning on NL!!! Those not make the ministers positions

Beaf:

Fresh Air!!!

This is a good development no doubt however rejoice not yet Beaf. its not GEJ initiative in the first instance and he is yet to accent to the bill also.
However, i will like to know the full content of this bill itself. Can anyone help out? I simply dont trust these house guys. They are rogues in my books.

Kilode?!:

I'll wait to read the final bill before I rejoice. I'll wait to see what they'll allow as public information and what they are retaining as "state secrets"

I'll wait.

Thank you. Nigerians will celebrate anything !!! This is a bill that David Mark has personally attempted to 'water-down' in his zeal to protect the 'establishment' . Nobody , because of tinkering , knows what the final bill passed will look like. Is it not like how Yar Adua 'butchered' the Justice Uwais submissions on electoral reform to leave out very important submissions such as the suggestion of automatic ban and sanctioning of election riggers as a way to curb electoral malpractices. Let them pass the bill and let experts with integrity ,like Femi Falana, approve of this bill in its entirety before anyone begins celebrating.

Beaf:

Fresh Air!!!

indeed.a new wave is going thru naija

@Gbawe and likes, I know the usernames that hold the brains from which I would always expect substance.

dd

Demdem:

This is a good development no doubt however rejoice not yet Beaf. its not GEJ initiative in the first instance and he is yet to accent to the bill also.
However, i will like to know the full content of this bill itself. Can anyone help out? I simply dont trust these house guys. They are rogues in my books.

This is funny sir! GEJ pushed the bill through parliament, so why wouldn't he sign it?
The next bill we await is the PIB. . . Fingers crossed.

Good things are coming!

Gbawe:

Thank you. Nigerians will celebrate anything !!! This is a bill that David Mark has personally attempted to 'water-down' in his zeal to protect the 'establishment' . Nobody , because of tinkering , knows what the final bill passed will look like. Is it not like how Yar Adua 'butchered' the Justice Uwais submissions on electoral reform to leave out very important submissions such as the suggestion of automatic ban and sanctioning of election riggers as a way to curb electoral malpractices. Let them pass the bill and let experts with integrity ,like Femi Falana, approve of this bill in its entirety before anyone begins celebrating. 

So, what has been taken out? It is just your usual scarecrow arguments for the sake of it. What has been watered down? Proof please!
If David Mark "attempted" (in your own words), does it mean it happened and do you have proof? Damn!

Namedropping doesn't make arguments.

Fine its good, but we have always been very good at passing laws, BUT VERY BAD @ IMPLEMENTING, so how is this FOI gonna be diffirent from every other!!!

Goodluck pushed for a bill that he has held back from signing since March when it was passed by both house and senate?? WOW !!!

Beaf:

This is funny sir! GEJ pushed the bill through parliament, so why wouldn't he sign it?
The next bill we await is the PIB. . . Fingers crossed.

Good things are coming!

Sir, how did he do this since you seems to be privy to this. i strongly believe the bill simply went through all parliamentary stages without any governmental external pressure.

Kobojunkie:

Goodluck pushed for a bill that he has held back from signing since March when it was passed by both house and senate?? WOW !!!

There is no limit to the delusion being suffered by GEJ supporters. Do you know that he in fact made sure the weather is very nice today?

reindeer:

There is no limit to the delusion being suffered by GEJ supporters. Do you know that he in fact made sure the weather is very nice today?

The bolded makes no sense on the current thread. Their is no delusion here, make your point. FOI has reached a critical stage and their is nothing suggesting he would not append his signature. Recently before the elections, one of his aids made unguided statement on FOI and was sanctioned seriously. Yes valid points raised remains the content and implementation issues?//

There's no way GEJ is going to sign a bill that makes it easier to catch his allies stealing. Obasanjo refused to sign it even though he was leaving office not to talk of Jonathan who is still hoping to be around for the next 8 years.

Also as someone has already said, the current version has been severely watered down from its original form by selfish legislators who want to protect their fat wallets.

In any case,  a weak F of I Act is better than no F of I Act. I'm sure Nigerian journalists and private citizens will still find a way to use it to embarrass some PDP thieves.

Is NL getting dry and dry nowaday that things like this make front-page?

Dumb Nigerians. A watered down bill that wont amount to jack. Gej will sign it of course, cause he knows the final bill will be as impotent as a eunuch in Roman times. Bunch of dreamers. Either take out those thieving politicians violently, or keep suffering forever. The choice is urs!

bk.babe97y:

Dumb Nigerians. A watered down bill that wont amount to jack. Gej will sign it of course, cause he knows the final bill will be as impotent as a eunuch in Roman times. Bunch of dreamers. Either take out those thieving politicians violently, or keep suffering forever. The choice is urs!

Thank you thank you!!

bk.babe97y:

Dumb Nigerians. A watered down bill that wont amount to jack. Gej will sign it of course, cause he knows the final bill will be as impotent as a eunuch in Roman times. Bunch of dreamers. Either take out those thieving politicians violently, or keep suffering forever. The choice is urs!

yes oh

Only in Nigeria., A sitting president make such a statement. To whom exacly?

so somebody had to resurrect this thread from 2011 all in an effort to bring beaf back abi? Good work!