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Foi Act: A Symbol Of Social Engineering
By
Gbemiga
Bamidele
Newsdiaryonline Sat Aug 27,2011
Social Engineering is the art of people or social affairs
management. It is about organizing the human person or his
society towards attaining total well being or balancing of the
tripartite component of his physical, spiritual and
psychological life. These three areas of the human person
determine the level of his material well being and all put
together translate to the social status of every individual.
It is a philosophical bridge on which to build dialogue with
other disciplines that deal with human being. It is a cross
disciplinary subject that correlate with other human centric
disciplines. It is a human interest and society based subject
concerned with advancing the socio-economic and civic needs of
man. It seeks to effect profound revolution in the substance,
style and strategy for socio-development process.
Its primary objective is to bring about a dynamic change to a
stagnated society and redirect a derailed and degenerating one
to the right path.
FOI Act is a legislation to make public records and information
more freely available, provide for public access to public
records and information, protect public records and information
to the extent consistent with the public interest and the
protection of personal privacy, protect serving public officers
from adverse consequences for disclosing certain kinds of
official information
without authorization and established procedures for the
achievement of those purposes and related purposes thereof.
Access to information makes the government more sensitive and
responsive to the needs and demands of the ordinary people. The
FOI Act will increase public participation because the public
can regularly engage government officials and parliamentary
representative. It entails the rights of citizens of a country
to access official information held or in the custody of their
government to facilitate easy access to information under its
docket and significantly, to publish important information and
regularly for the general public.
While social engineering advances the society towards total
transformation: politically, socially, economically,
spiritually, culturally and technologically for the purpose of
fostering social harmony aimed at minimizing human conflict, FOI
Act provides a veritable platform for understanding which is
based on shared perception and meanings, a benefit of Freedom of
Information.
Social engineering concept is premised on the human angle
philosophy of sustainable growth which makes social, economic
and political development of every society people-centered
through positive impact on the quality of their lives. Such
development indices are measured from the standard of living
attained in all or some of above area. It is also accessed in
terms of increased awareness and citizen’s participation at
various levels of developmental activities which the FOI Act is
out to entrench. Any legislation that appears to open up the
window to access information should
be good for our democracy and it should be allow to work,
however the truth is that there must be willingness of the
populace for accountability. People should be willing to ask
question on the way governments at all levels are handling the
business of governance.
This is the first time citizens will be involved in governance
since they now have access to government information. This means
they can question government decisions and policies, to request
information from government and private institution and such
information is to be made available. Such a framework will
strengthen Nigeria’s democracy due to its all inclusive nature
and its principle of making information about government and
private institution readily available for public scrutiny.
Good governance, an essential of any thriving democratic state
is premised on system of openness, trust and government
accountability and this can only be achieved if the public is
involved in the process of governance. Access to information is
the key pillar of democracy. It will facilitate public
participation in public affairs. An informed society is able to
better participate in designing and execution of social
engineering specialty which focuses on the following; among
others:
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Analyzing and proffering solution to problems of social-economic
and cultural nature as well as give advice on social matters and
policy formulations that affect citizens.
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Addressing problems of anti-social behavior and counsel
miscreants on how to rediscover themselves.
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Helping the society to rediscover lost values and redirect it on
the path of virtuous living through proper motivation
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Tackling social injustice and seeking ways of restoring
socio-economic equality in the society through action against
all forms of social segregation and class status.
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Promotion of sound ethical standard and inculcating in the
citizenry, the culture of placing service to the society first,
as well as put in place machinery for realizing collective
social vision through mass participation of the citizenry.
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Eradicating the tendency among mankind to live false life and
make them aspire towards living a purposeful life.
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Evolve strategies for crisis management and conflicts resolution
in the society.
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Redefine the mutual concept of social responsibility as it
affects state obligations to citizenry to fit into the merging
social order
An informed society is able to better participate in design and
execution of public policies. It is also more resourceful and
creative addressing social challenges. Such a society is
therefore better placed to increase productivity and prosperity.
The FOI Act will enhance the ability of the people of Nigeria to
exchange ideas and contribute to national development and be
part of a truly democratic state.
It is the right time for Nigeria to join more than 70 other
countries that have enacted the FOI laws.
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