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Court Orders NASS To Disclose Members’ Allowances by horlabiyi(m): 7:04am On Jun 26, 2012 |
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday, ordered the clerk of the National Assembly to disclose to a group, Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEPAD), details of the salaries, emolument and allowances collected by members of House of Representatives and the Senate between 2007 and 2011. The presiding judge, Justice Bilikisu Bello Aliyu, held that the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2011 permitted LEPAD to demand for any public information such as the details of salaries, emoluments and allowances earned by the legislators, stating that they were of public interest, since the payments were from public funds. LEDAP, a non- governmental organisation had, in its letter dated July 6, 2011 addressed to the clerk of the National Assembly, requested for information under section 2 and 3 of FoI Act on salary, emolument and allowances paid to all Reps and senators from June 2007 to May 2011. Following the refusal to accede to its letter, LEPAD, in September 2011, filed a suit asking the court to compel the clerk of NASS to furnish it with the requested information LEDAP claimed in the suit that the legislators were overpaid beyond the rate approved by the law and demanded refund. In the suit filed by Chido Edmund Obiagwu on behalf of the LEPAD, the plaintiff named the clerk of National Assembly as the defendant and asked the court to declare that applicant had the right to the information under the FOI Act. However, counsel for the National Assembly, Yunus Ustaz Usman, had objected that the information requested by LEDAP was not permitted to be released under the FoI Act, and that the organisation lacked the locus standi to make such request. Overruling the objection, the court held that every citizen was entitled to have access to public information under the FOI Act and ordered the clerk of NASS to release the requested information within 14 days of the judgment. |
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