Justice Akintayo Aluko of a Lagos High Court will, on 25 January 2025, continue hearing a suit by rights lawyer Olukoya Ogungbeje, who asked the court to compel the Federal Ministry of Works, Minister David Nweze Umahi, and the Federal Government to disclose details of the N15tn budget for the 700-kilometer Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project.
Ogungbeje’s suit rests on the Freedom of Information Act. He seeks “A Declaration that the refusal or failure of the respondents to furnish information regarding the N15tn Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway budget, despite receiving the applicant’s request dated April 7, 2024, constitutes a violation of the Freedom of Information Act.”
Citizens will focus on the Freedom of Information Act before, during, and after the trial. Information on the contentious Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is a good test case for the FOI Act.
Beaming The Searchlight: A Manual on Using the Freedom of Information Act for Investigative Reporting is one of five books from the stable of the Media Rights Agenda organisation. It explains the 5Ws of the Act and how journalists and lay citizens can deploy it. It describes the objectives of the FOI, who has the right to access it, the scope of application of the FOI Act, the institutions journalists and citizens can approach, and the types of information accessible under the FOI Act.
After the FOI Act is exposed, the pamphlet delves into investigative reporting. It returns to “The Role of the FOI Act in Investigative Reporting.” Chapter Four guides the reader through what to do “Where Access is denied.”
The Freedom of Information Act states in a key provision: “Notwithstanding anything contained in any other Act, law or regulation, the right of any person to access or request information, whether or not contained in any written form, which is in the custody or possession of any public official, agency or institution howsoever described, is established.’
Beaming The Searchlight should be a companion to journalists covering the 36 state houses and those on the investigation and features desks.
Other books from the MRA stable stake their claim as an intellectual powerhouse and contributor to knowledge production. They include Navigating a Minefield of Laws: A Guide for Nigerian Journalists, Safeguarding the Fourth Estate, and two books on the state of media freedom covering 2022 and 2023. They are Stifling Freedom of Expression in Nigeria: Annual Report of Attacks on Free Expression and Media Freedom in 2022i and Under Siege: Annual Report of Attacks on Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression in Nigeria 2023.
Read also: Media Rights Agenda condemns attack on journalists, media houses
Both books provide scary and sobering accounts of the attacks on journalists. The Media Rights Agenda regularly contests these cases in court. You learn from Stifling Freedom of Expression of 64 attacks on freedom of expression in 2022. They cover threats to life, assault/battery, arrest/detention, kidnap/abduction, invasion, prevention, fines, and court cases. With a frequency of 31 per cent each, assault/battery and arrest/detention were the most prominent forms of attacks.
Who did these things? Perpetrators were law enforcement/security agencies, with a frequency of 29 cases or 45.31 per cent. Others were thugs and hoodlums (14.06 per cent), government officials (three or 4.38 per cent, unknown amendment (eight or 12.5 per cent, court/judges (8 or 12.5 per cent), mob (two or 3.12 per cent), National Broadcasting Commission (three or 4.38 per cent) and politicians (two or 3.12 per cent).
As recorded in Under Siege (2024), attacks on journalists worsened in 2023. The book states that the number grew from 64 cases in 2022 to 78 in 2023.
“In 2023, MRA documented 78 incidents of attacks on freedom of expression, including attacks on journalists, media workers, and media outlets, which suffered various forms of attacks on them and their safety while carrying out their duties. Other citizens were attacked for expressing themselves online, especially on social media. The types of attacks on freedom of expression in 2023 included threats to lives, assault and battery, arrest and detention, harassment, restrictions, seizure and damage of work equipment, prevention from venues of events, invasion of offices, etc. None of these cases was investigated, and no perpetrator was charged in court.”
Edetaen Ojo, Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda, prefaced Navigating a Minefield of Laws. “This report is informed by the pervasive and growing threat posed by legislative and policy instruments designed to stifle media operations. These legal instruments are increasingly weaponised to suppress dissent and control media narrative, from stringent licensing requirements and draconian defamation laws to sweeping surveillance measures and ambiguous regulations.”
Navigating a Minefield of Laws lists 40 laws and how they restrict, curtail or breach free expression and the work of the media. They range from the National Broadcasting Commission Act of 1999 (as amended) through the National Film and Video Censors Board Act of 1993 to the Criminal Code Act of 2004. The book highlights laws like the Nigerian Broadcasting Code, 6th Edition 2020. It highlights landmines in legislation like The Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publication) Act of 1943 and the National Lottery Act of 2005.
Media Rights Agenda earns its pips as a media advocate with these books. It produced them with sponsorship by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism under the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development, Inclusion and Accountability (CMEDIA) project.
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