NAICOM Bags FOI Hall of Shame Tag
- As MRA flays impunity in govt MDAs
BY COBHAM NSA, ABUJA – The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has become the latest inductee into the ‘Freedom of Information (FOI) Hall of Shame’ by Media Rights Agenda (MRA), an organisation that promotes the right to freedom of expression and access to information in Nigeria
This is even as the MRA warned that the pervasive culture of lack of compliance with the FOI Act is eroding public trust in government and its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
MRA’s Programme Officer, Mr John Gbadamosi said in a statement that NAICOM’s selection by body’s Programme Team, was based on the Commission’s failure to live by its core values of transparency, integrity and efficiency.
He said the Commission has not only failed to implement and comply with most of its obligations under the FOI Act, but consistently denied citizens the right to obtain information from it.
The statement accused NAICOM of non-compliance with its obligation under Section 29 of the Act by failing to submit any of the seven reports it ought to have submitted as of February 1, 2018 to the Attorney- General of the Federation on its implementation of the FOI Act since the enactment of the Law in 2011.
According to the statement, “We are extremely concerned that there appears to be an endless stream of public institutions just waiting to be inducted into the Freedom of Information Hall Shame, a recognition that no self-respecting institution should desire.”
Mr Gbadamosi stated that “It is particularly worrisome that a public institution like NAICOM, established to foster public trust and confidence in the insurance system, prefers to operate in secrecy and disregard a fundamental law of the land aimed at enabling the public to access information about government and its agencies.”
He said with such unbecoming attitude now common among many public institutions, Nigerians are finding it increasingly difficult to trust and believe that government and its agencies are actually working for the common good of the citizenry.
“It is apparent the public cynicism towards the government is on the increase as public trust and confidence in the government is being eroded at an alarming rate. There is no doubt that the lack of transparency and accountability is largely responsible for this situation as many agencies of government are decidedly but unnecessarily being secretive about their affairs.”
The MRA’s statement itemized NAICOM’s breaches of the FOI Act and its transparency obligations as non-proactive “disclosure obligations under Section 2 of the FOI Act as it has not published either on its website or anywhere else, other categories of information that are part of the 16 classes of information that the Act requires all public institutions to proactively publish and disseminate widely to members of the public through various means, including print, electronic and online sources.”
Gbadamosi noted that though NAICOM has published some of its operational guidelines along with other financial reports, it has neither designated an officer to handle requests for information nor proactively published the title and address of the officer either on its website or anywhere else, as required by Section 2(3)(f) of the Act and the FOI Implementation Guidelines issued by the Attorney-General of the Federation.
The statement further cited information from the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), an Abuja-based non-governmental organisation, indicating that NAICOM consistently shunned requests for information.
It said NAICOM ignored request for information dated January 30, 2015 by PPDC under the FOI Act in which the organization asked for details of the sums approved for the Commission as capital warrants in the first, second, third and fourth quarters of 2014.
Similarly, NAICOM also did not respond to an FOI request on August 16, 2016 by PPDC, which sought the list of contracts awarded by it in the year 2015 and the procurement plan within its approval threshold for the year 2016, adding that though PPDC sent a reminder on September 5, 2016, the Commission gave no response till date.
Gbadamosi said NAICOM also shunned another application for information made on January 25, 2017 by PPDC, requesting records of payment for capital projects released to it in 2016, the list of contracts awarded by NAICOM in 2016 and the procurement plan within its approval threshold for the year 2017.
Maintaining that information requested are not covered by the exemption rules in the Act, the MRA said the only logical reason why the Commission refused to provide the information or respond to the request is its total disregard for the FOI Act and other laws of Nigeria.
“The information should ordinarily have been proactively published both under the Public Procurement Act, 2007 and Section 2 of the FOI Act”, Gbadamosi said, adding that NAICOM has also failed to comply with Section 13 of the FOI Act, which requires all public institutions to train their officials on the public’s right of access to information and to equip relevant officials with the skills to ensure the effective implementation of the Act.
MRA urged the NAICOM management to urgently improve its image by instituting systems that ensure compliance with all its obligations under the FOI Act and the guidelines issued by the Attorney-General of the Federation.