Roundtable meeting with editors on the freedom of information bill

Organized by Media Rights Agenda (MRA) Held at Elomaz Hotel, Maryland, Lagos on Thursday, July 29, 2010

 Introduction

A one day Roundtable Meeting with Editors on the Freedom of Information Bill was held at Elomaz Hotel in Maryland, Lagos on Thursday, July 29, 2010.  It was organized by Media Rights Agenda (MRA) with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through PACT Nigeria.

The Meeting brought together 18 editors and senior media professionals from the print and broadcast sectors under the aegis of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) as well as leaders of civil society organizations campaigning for the passage of the Freedom of Information Bill, representing the Freedom of Information Coalition (FOI Coalition).

The Meeting discussed the current status of the Freedom of Information Bill, the prospects for its passage into Law and related issues.  The participants thereafter adopted the following Final Communiqué:

Observations

• Although the media deal in information more than any other segment of society, the Freedom of Information Bill is not a Law for the media alone.  Rather, it is a Law that will guarantee a right of access to information to everyone in the country.  It will also enhance citizen participation in governance.
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• The fear among some legislators that a Freedom of Information Law will leave them vulnerable and open up their private lives to public scrutiny is unwarranted as it is apparently based on a misunderstanding of the purpose and character of the proposed Freedom of Information law Act.  The proposed Law clearly protects information about the private lives of individuals from disclosure.

• Calls for the inclusion of provisions on criminal defamation in the Bill as a pre-condition for its passage are unnecessary as the offence of criminal defamation is already extensively provided for by Sections 373, 375 and 376 of the Criminal Code Act in the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria as well as by the Defamatory and Offensive Publications Act.  In addition, both the Criminal Code Act in Sections 59(1) and (2) and the Penal Code in Section 418 have already created the offence of false publication.

• Concerns over media responsibility and regulation were already being addressed by the three main professional bodies within the media, namely the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), the Nigerian Guild of Editors and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) which had recently appointed a retired Justice of the Court of Appeal, Honourable Justice Moronkeji Onalaja, as the media Ombudsman to adjudicate allegations of professional misconduct against the media and journalists through a simple and swift process.
• With a political will, commitment and the right attitude by those responsible for passing the Freedom of Information Bill into Law, namely the National Assembly and the President, the Bill can be passed by the current National Assembly before the end of 2010 in view of the advanced stages that the Bill has reached in both chambers.

Recommendation

The participants accordingly called on:

• All members of the House of Representatives to allow the final debate on the Bill to proceed immediately so that the Bill can be passed during this year. The Senate should also jettison the obnoxious provisions injected into the Bill by its Committee on Information and Media and proceed to pass a credible Freedom of Information Bill.
• President Goodluck Jonathan to champion the Freedom of Information campaign as part of his reform agenda and consistent with his commitment to openness, transparency and good governance.   He should encourage the National Assembly to pass the Freedom of Information Bill into Law during his tenure and commit himself to giving presidential assent to it as soon as it is passed by the National Assembly.

On the media to ensure better awareness and understanding of the Freedom of Information Bill among various stakeholders through consistent, rigorous and in-depth reporting of the Bill, its objectives and potential benefits to all sectors of the society and the nation as a whole while also providing a platform for public debates about the Bill.