"By signing the FOI Bill, I am committed to lifting the veil covering governance. In the 80's we heard of Glasnost (Openness) and Perestroika (Restructuring) from Gorbachev and the Berlin Wall came down. In Nigeria, there is a breath of Fresh Air ushering an era of Transformation and Transparency and the walls of Corruption will be brought down not just by the government but by you the good people of Nigeria." GEJ on FB
Under the new legislation, all public institutions will have to be open about their operations and expenditure while citizens will have the right to access information about their activities.
The FoI bill was first submitted to the National Assembly in 1999, 2003 and 2007 but it did not make much progress.
i'm sorry to say but the FOI Act is useless. the official secrets act must first be amended or scrapped for the FOI to make sense. If not, every information will and can be deemed protected for reason of national security and believe me its very easy for govt to say any info that is damaging to them is covered under the cloak of national security.
ReplyDeleteThis is a progress people, so pls stop whining, not like it makes any difference.
ReplyDeleteGEJ cann't correct overnight all the mistakes made by all ur former presidents like Obasanjo, IBB & the rest !
He is the most educated president Nigeria has had in a loong time, the others just had OND in Isalmic Law !
He is doing new stuffs that Obsanjo culdn't even do in his 3 tenures while heading for a 4th! SO SPARE GEJ ABEG !
Welcome to Wiki Leaks Naija style!
ReplyDeleteGEJ is a smart guy. He's striving for Nigeria reserve and it's people's psychological submission. FOI? what's that gona do to effect change. PDP is still holding Nigeria on ransom and so shall it be until God's divine intervention surfaces. GEJ pack that child play in.
ReplyDeleteI read the post with a sense of hope. But the comments I find here so far have seemed to dampen my moral. Perhaps they know something those of us abroad don't. Otherwise I would say its a step in the right direction. The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. I think we ought to be more positive about our hopes and desires for our country because Mr President might actually be a lot smarter and more sincere than we give him credit for. I hate being negative for the sake of it. He has opened the door an inch. The question is, does anyone have the good sense to get a crow bar to prise it wide open? Good job Mr President. May God bless you and increase your wisdom. More grease!
ReplyDeleteAs far as i am concerned, no giant stride was made with the passing of the Act. its only lawyers that will understand the ramification of such law. The Official Secrets Act is still superior to the FOI Act as it is stated.Govt will still withhold information as they like and still say its confidential.
ReplyDeletewhen will Nigerian judges stop wearing that crap on their heads. THE BRITISH ARE GONE! WE ARE NO LONGER COLONIZED! STOP THIS MADNESS!
ReplyDeleteThank You.
all of u that are hating on his move just sound ignorant as fuck..it is ur pessimistic outlook on nigeria that hinders the nation from moving forward..this man has clearly done something good...whether u believe it will make any difference or not..just keep that to urself and stay positive..instead of u to yab the guy..i wonder wen people will open their eyes and see GEJ as a good leader...i guess u are all waiting for him to change nigeria overnite before u give him some credit...smh..its sad i swear..jst support the man and his decisions..dats d least we can do as citizens under his administration...
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