ANEEJ, 8 NGOs petition Obaseki over non-passage of state's draft FOI Bill


By Editor




Nov 01, 2022




The authorities of the  African Network for Environment and Economic Justice, (ANEEJ) says it is working with other eight NGOs  on a joint petition to the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, over the non-passage of the state government's draft Freedom of Information Bill (FOI).

Innocent Edemhanria, the program manager of the NGO made the disclosure at a press briefing with newsmen in Benin City.

"We have had engagement meetings with some stakeholders both state and non state actors to join us in this advocacy effort.

"We will sustain such advocacy efforts and engage more stakeholders to support our advocacy issues", he said.

Edemhanria, who lamented the non-passage of the FOI bill by Edo State and several other states in the country, noted that the passage of FOI by state Houses of Assembly and subsequent assent to by the various state governors will help deepen transparency and accountability in governance.


He urged states that are yet to domesticate the FOI bill to emulate Ekiti and Imo states where the governors have enacted their own state FOI laws.


He opined that if states have their own FOI law, it will also bring to an end the raging controversy about the applicability of FOI Act at state level where several groups both within and outside Edo State are now in court.


While noting that Edo State government is yet to domesticate the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 10 years after it was signed into law by ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, he however, appealed to the governor to do the needful by revisiting the state drafted bill and present it to the Edo State House of Assembly for consideration.


According to him, the press briefing is to draw the attention of His Excellency, Mr Godwin Obaseki, Edo State Governor, to the draft of the Edo State FOI Bill and appeal to the governor to revisit the draft bill and present the bill to Edo State house of Assembly as an executive bill for consideration.


Innocent explained that the Edo draft bill had been subjected to consultation with stakeholders, including Civil Society Organizations under the Open Governance Partnership (OGP) framework.


He pointed out that  a draft of Edo State FOI bill prepared by the legal drafting team of Edo State Ministry of Justice during governor Godwin Obaseki's first tenure (2016-2020) has not been taken forward and attended to.

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