The office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF) has identified poor understanding of the provision of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act as one of the reasons for its poor implementation.
Alhaji Ibrahim Yusufu, Permanent Secretary, Common Services, Office of the HOCSF, who made this known at the 2022 Sensitisation/Capacity Building Workshop on Tuesday in Abuja, expressed concern that the actual purpose of the Act was being hindered.
The workshop organised by the Planning Analytics and Monitoring Department for the members of staff, office of HOCSF, is to sensitise desk officers and directors in the office of HOCSF in particular, to understand the provisions of the Act.
Yusufu added that in spite of the laudable and noble objectives of the FOI Act, there had been a lot of challenges to its effective and efficient implementation of the Act.
He said that other challenges included poor funding, poor record keeping, unwillingness on the part of government officials to accept the new information regime and conflicting judgments from the judiciary.
He noted that the Act came into force on May 28, 2011, to enable the public to access certain government information to ensure transparency and openness in the conduct of government business.
He, however, expressed concern that some of the identified challenges had inhibited its smooth implementation.
Also, Dr Anne Nzegwu, Director PAM, explained that the purpose of the workshop was to empower officers in the office of the HOCSF with the required knowledge to handle and address any FOI enquiry as received by the office.
“This sensitisation is that we want to empower our officers in the office of the Head of Service to be able to address any FOI inquiry that we receive.
“We want the directors to be well affirmed with the laws and policies of FOI because they are responsible for information leaving their department and without them to understand the laws and the information, it will be difficult to address public issues.
“FOI as much as it is for transparency, there are still exemptions, there are things that are exempted from being disclosed”.
On her part, Mrs Oluwatoyin Madein, Director of Finance/Account, Office of the HOCSF and a participant, said participating in the workshop was imperative to her and others as it would increase their understanding of what FOI was all about.
“The sensitisation on the implementation of FOI is a very necessary capacity-building activity that increases one’s understanding of what the FOI Act is really all about.
”And for me, because I have been dealing on FOI for some time but one key thing that I learned here today is that, if organisations, maybe by law are not allowed to release some information, they have to seek for that waiver.
“And, make that known on or before February 1 of each year, and this application will be sent to the Ministry of Justice, for that it is a new knowledge that I am just picking today” she said.
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