Nigerians Charged on the Use of FOI Act in Public Accountability

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By Lucky Isibor.


Nigerians have been charged to make use of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act to continually hold government at all levels accountable to the people.

A consultant to the Rule of Law and Anti-curruption (ROLAC) programme, Dr. Walter Duru gave the charge while delivering his paper at a one day Peer Review meeting on the use of Freedom of Information Act for members of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and media practitioners organised by ROLAC at the Randekhi Royal Hotel, Benin City.

                     Dr. Walter Duru


Dr. Duru, who is also the Executive Director of Media Against Injustice, Violence and Curruption (MIIVOC) enjoined participants to continue to use the law to request information on procurement and other activities of government and contractors adding that the FOI Act empowers CSOs, media and members of the public to request information from contractors handling government contracts such cost of contracts, payments made and the mode of supervision. 


While charging participants to always put the Act  to test, Dr Duru noted  that not putting the act to test has accorded corrupt individuals the opportunity to continue to dig deeper into their acts of illegality at the detriment of the collective will of the people for good and responsive governance.

Participants shared experiences on the out come of FOI request they've made and its impact on corruption prevention and accountability.

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