Government agencies, parastatals in Akwa Ibom do not honour FOI requests – CSO’s

A survey by Public and Private Development Centre, PPDC in Akwa Ibom State has revealed that many Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government in the state do not honour the Freedom of Information (FOI) request made to them by the media, civil societies or members of the public.

The group in collaboration with Akwa Ibom Access to Information team disclosed this on Friday in Uyo during the second sub-national Freedom of Information Act Compliance and Transparency Rankings in the state to mark the International Day for Universal Access to Information.

The Programmes Officer, Extractive, Policy Alert, Mr Mfon Gabriel, who spoke on behalf of the CEO PPDC, said the state government has not done enough in the areas of transparency and accountability as shown in their refusal to honour citizens’ requests for information.

He regretted that even with section 48 (5) of the Fiscal Responsibility Law (2020) of the state which empowers citizens to make such requests and mandates the government to oblige them; public office holders still find it difficult to avail information when requested.

He urged relevant agencies in the state to be more responsive to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and proactively provide public information on government websites.

He also urged the media and civil society organisations to make use of Section 52 (3) of the law in addition to the FOI Act 2011 to demand transparency and accountability from the government.

Part of the text read, “We conducted a ranking and from our findings, many MDAs in the state continue to ignore or outrightly refuse to honour FOI requests. Most public offices are yet to come to terms with the importance of access to information. It appears that the state is just professing transparency and accountability as governance ideals while refusing to honour requests for information from the citizens, civil society, or the media.

“We use the opportunity of this year’s International Right to Know Day to urge state actors in the region to be more responsive to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and to more proactively provide public information on government websites.”

Giving the breakdown of the results from the survey in the state, Gabriel said the government house ranked the 20th while the Ministry for Information and Strategy was in the 15th position on the proactive disclosure of information, the responsiveness to requests, and the level of disclosure.

He further said, “the Ministry of Transport and Solid Minerals emerged 1st position in the state, out of 24 MDAs ranked.

“The Ministry of Lands and Water Resources and the Ministry of Justice emerged 2nd, while Akwa Ibom State Bureau of Public Procurement emerged 4th after taking 1st position in the 2021 ranking.

“The Ministry Of Education emerged in the 5th position, while 9 MDAs shared the 6th position; 2 shared the 15th position, and 1 had the 17th position, while 7 MDAs shared the 20th position.

“Government House, Uyo, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economic Development, Akwa Ibom State Committee on Foreign Direct Investment, Ministry of Environment and Solid Minerals, as well as the Ministry of Science and Technology all came last in the 2022 FOI ranking.”