Civil society has a very important role to play in ensuring accountability on behalf of the people. First of all, it has the responsibility to deepen its own knowledge and understanding of the way government works. Secondly, it has the responsibility to demand explanations and answers from government officials on behalf of the people.
Civil society organisations do this best when they have been able to develop a reputation for thoroughly professionalism and rigour. Tools such as citizen scorecards have been very effective in focusing the minds of public servants that public service is about the service to the public, not just service to the public servant, which tends to be uppermost in the minds of many public servants. The debate in the public service tends to be about “our pay”, “our training” and “our promotion”, not often enough about the wellbeing and convenience of the public.
Many civil society organisations have used the FOI Act to very good effect as an accountability mechanism. As Nigerian civil society organisations continue to mature and deepen the collaboration with each other, leveraging the areas of strength of each organisation to the benefit of others, their ability to demand and receive answers is improving. The co-creation of the OGP National Action Plan by government and civil society is certainly a step in the right direction. Joint monitoring of progress towards the lofty ambitions of that plan is perhaps even more important.
The media similarly has a role to play in demanding accountability on behalf of the people. The media has the responsibility to raise awareness about issues, demand answers, raise and praise and name and shame. It has the responsibility to wield its immense powers with knowledge and professionalism, putting national interest first at all times. Press freedom is a key element of Freedom of Speech, one of the two key freedoms I had pointed out that we must guard jealously.
Therefore, the only remedy available to ordinary members of the public and civil society organisations seems to be to go to court. Unfortunately, the court system in Nigeria is slow, expensive and daunting for the average Nigerian. Many simply cannot afford the money or the time required to pursue FOI requests through the courts
It is not immediately clear how well the media uses the FOI Act in its work. It seems to rely more on press releases issued by government officials, and investigative journalism does not appear to be common, except for some online media platforms. It is my view that the media should make more use of the FOI Act in its work and should also help to apply pressure on government to comply with the provisions of the Act. For instance, the performance of the National Assembly on FOI requests should be under constant scrutiny by the media, since it was the National Assembly that passed the law and it is a public institution under the Act.
Government’s track record of response to FOI requests has been poor. Year-on-year, many public service organisations fail or even blatantly refuse to respond to FOI requests. There do not seem to be any administrative sanctions for an organisation that fails or refuses to provide information. Although the law requires all public institutions to make annual returns to the Attorney General of the Federation, there are no sanctions for failing or refusing to do so. Similarly, when the Attorney General submits his report to the National Assembly, the report seems to enter a black hole.
The National Assembly often doesn’t exercise its accountability powers by demanding an explanation from non responsive public organisations as to why they did not respond to an FOI request, or why they did not file their returns to the Attorney General, nor does it compel those nonresponsive organisations to appear before it to explain their recalcitrance.
Therefore, the only remedy available to ordinary members of the public and civil society organisations seems to be to go to court. Unfortunately, the court system in Nigeria is slow, expensive and daunting for the average Nigerian. Many simply cannot afford the money or the time required to pursue FOI requests through the courts. Consequently, this constrains one of the two fundamental rights that I said we must fight to protect in our quest for accountability: the freedom to demand information and explanation from the people we elect or appoint.
Some progress has been made since the fuller implementation of the FOI Act was made a commitment in Nigeria’s Open Government Partnership National Action Plan. In this regard, I must commend the efforts of the Federal Ministry of Justice in the mediation role that it has started to play between government organisations and citizens that demand information from government. Of course, the fact that a mediation role is necessary when there is a law that mandates disclosure is indicative of the size of the problem.
A few organisations, such as the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), have been practicing proactive disclosure. However, it is my opinion that the FOI Act should be amended to provide some administrative sanctions for non-compliance with its provisions. For instance, the Public Procurement Act, 2007 says that the Bureau of Public Procurement can recommend the removal of a Chief Executive that fails to comply with the Act or recommend investigation of any perceived infraction by the anti-corruption bodies such as EFCC. Therefore, Chief Executives tend to jump when they get a letter from the BPP that reminds them of those provisions of the Public Procurement Act. The FOI Act should be amended to include similar provisions, if it is to be taken seriously by government officials.
Increasingly, individual citizens are taking advantage of social media to demand accountability. Similarly, many government organisations now have a presence on social media, with some being more responsive than others. For the 2017 budget, the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative defended their budget proposals online before members of the public before even defending them before the National Assembly. This is an example of real transparency and accountability in action. I am aware that the Presidential Office of Digital Engagement is making efforts to ensure that many more government organisations are available to answer questions online to the public. This is important for building the confidence of citizens in the government.
In the concluding part of this paper, we will look at the roles of politicians and public servants in ensuring accountability.
(To be continued).
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