Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has announced the launching of an enhanced “Freedom of Information Hall of Shame”, saying it would now take legal action against every public institution inducted into the Hall of Shame for undermining the effectiveness of the Freedom of Information Act.

The FOI Hall of Shame, into which a public institution or official was inducted every week, was first launched by MRA in July 2017 but suspended in December 2018, after 68 public institutions and two High Court judges were inducted into the Hall of Shame.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Monday, MRA’s Programme Manager for Freedom of Information, Mr. Ridwan Sulaimon, said: “When we first launched the FOI Hall of Shame in 2017, the intention was to call out public officials and institutions undermining the effectiveness of the FOI Act in the court of public opinion and thereby shame them into complying with the Act.  We have since realized that the capacity for shame among most of our public institutions is unfortunately very limited as most of our public officials do not really care what citizens think of them.  It was for this reason that we suspended the initiative at the end of 2018 to re-evaluate our strategy.”

According to him, “The outcome of our assessment was that the first iteration of the Hall of Shame brought about only very modest improvements in the level of implementation of the FOI Act and compliance with its provisions by public institutions across the board.  Therefore, in addition to naming and shaming defaulting public institutions, we now propose to use the instrumentality of the Law and the judicial process to enforce compliance.”

Explaining some of the changes to the initiative, Mr. Sulaimon said: “This time around, MRA will regularly undertake a rigorous assessment of every Federal public institution’s implementation activities with regards to the FOI Act to establish how they are implementing the Act. Based on our findings from such assessments, every month, MRA will induct a public institution that is failing in its duties and obligations under the Act into the Hall of Shame.  We will then follow this up with a law suit to compel that institution to comply with the provisions of the Act that it is in breach of.”

He argued that “given the value of the  FOI Act to society, it is too important an instrument to be ignored by public institutions, quite apart from the fact that ignoring it would create a situation of impunity among public institutions in the implementation of the Act, which is a clear violation of the principles of the rule of law.

Mr. Sulaimon stressed that access to information is not only critically important for the effective functioning of our democracy, including in ensuring public participation in governance and decision-making, but is equally vital in checking the rampant corruption ravaging the country and bringing about sustainable development.

In a related development, Ptof Chidi Odinkalu, former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), has sued the Commission over its alleged plan to compel its staff to sign a secrecy oath.

Odinkalu who filed the suit before the federal high court, Abuja, last Monday, said the Commission has no powers to compel its staff into subscribing to an oath of secrecy.

In the suit, Odinkalu argued that the plan violates the staff’s rights to freedom of expression guaranteed under section 39(1) of the Nigerian constitution, among other provisions.

The human rights activist prayed the court to declare the plan to administer the secrecy oath on the NHRC staff as unlawful and a violation of constitutionally guaranteed rights.

He is also seeking an order of perpetual injunction, restraining the respondents from proceeding with the alleged plan.

Respondents in the suit are NHRC; Mr Anthony Ojukwu, its executive secretary; the Nigeria Civil Service Union (NHRC branch); and Mr Efem Atu, its chairman.

Odinkalu stated, in a supporting affidavit, that “by an internal memo or circular dated 3rd July, 2019 and signed by one Ibe Obidigwe on behalf of the 2nd respondent, the 1st and 2nd respondent, directed all Heads of Departments/Units/State Coordinators of the 1st respondent (NHRC) to distribute copies of an oath of secrecy declaration to staff of their various departments/units etc to subscribe and return same to the 1st Respondent‘s Human Resources Management Department.

“A copy of the oath of secrecy declaration document to be subscribed by the staff of the 1st respondent was attached to the said internal memo or circular dated 3rd July, 2019.

“In the desperate bid of the 1st and 2nd respondents to achieve their purpose of compelling or getting the staff of the 1st respondent to subscribe to the said oath of secrecy, had a meeting with the 3rd respondent (the Nigeria Civil Service Union (NHRC branch) on 5th July, 2019 and enlisted the cooperation of the 3rd respondent to get its members to subscribe to the said oath of secrecy.”

Established in 1995, the Commission has the responsibility of promoting, protecting and enforcing human rights.