Ordinarily, what Nigeria spent on the 2018 World Cup and, indeed, any sporting event, should be posted on the websites of the relevant ministries and parastatals for the world to see. It should not be something hidden under the table that those in need of should sweat to obtain. Unfortunately, ours is a clime where virtually everything under the sun is treated as official secret. But such secretive running of public affairs is inimical to democracy which preaches transparency and accountability as its core tenets. It was in a bid to give fillip to openness in public administration that the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2011 was enacted.
As its name implies, the act empowers any Nigerian who thirsts for information on how public affairs is run to approach the relevant government agency for the information, and this must be obliged except in cases where such might affect national security. Regrettably, many public officials in the country still behave as if the law does not exist, or as if it was enacted for the fun of it. Mercifully, the courts seem to be ready to turn the tide, to make public officials know they must release such information of public interest.
It is in this light that we commend a Federal High Court in Abuja for its judgment in favour of the journalist who had been denied the information concerning what the country’s participation in the 2018 World Cup cost the taxpayer. The Abuja-based journalist, Ms Godsgift Onyedinefu, had approached the Federal Ministry of Finance and that of youth and sports development for the information but they did not make it available to her.
Not satisfied with the cold response by the ministries, Onyedinefu, armed with the FOI Act, then approached the court. She slammed two separate suits against the ministries.
The Media Communication Officer of Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Idowu Adewale, puts the suits in perspective: “In the first suit filed on her behalf on July 26, 2019 by Lagos-based lawyer and member of Media Rights Agenda’s Network of FOI Lawyers, Mr. Charles Musa, the journalist named as defendants the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, the Minister of Youth and Sports Development and the Attorney-General of the Federation, while in the second suit, filed on the same day, she named as defendants the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Minister of Finance and the Attorney-General of the Federation.”
Ms Onyedinefu wanted the court to direct the ministries and their ministers to make available to her within seven days of the court’s judgment, the information she requested from them pursuant to the FOI Act, and whether the expenditure was provided for in the 2018 Appropriation Act of the Federal Government, among other things.
It is gladdening that Justice Donatus Uwaezuoke Okorowo who heard the matter delivered judgment in the journalist’s favour. For starters, the judge said the refusal of the ministries to make available to Onyedinefu the cost of the country’s participation in the world fiesta amounted to an unlawful violation of her right of access to information in breach of Section 7 (4) of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, 2011. He asked the ministries to do what they ought to have done without prompting forthwith, that is make available to her all the information she applied for via her letter of June 3, 2019 on the matter within seven days from the date of judgment. That is not all; the court also asked the ministries to pay N1million each as exemplary and aggravated damages to the journalist for unlawfully withholding the information. Her only unanswered prayer was the inclusion of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), in the suit as a defendant. The judge said Malami’s power to initiate criminal proceedings by virtue of Section 174 of the Constitution is not questionable or subject to any control.
The damages awarded Ms Onyedinefu may look small, but the symbolism matters. This judgment, alongside the one given by the Court of Appeal on March 27, 2018, that states have no powers to reject requests filed under the FOI Act is a victory for democracy, rule of law and freedom of information.
We commend the journalist for her courageous decision to take the matter to court. We also commend the MRA for its support to media rights and development in the country, in line with its appellation. Of course we cannot fail to mention the progressive judgment of Justice Okorowo, which no doubt should further strengthen the application of the FOI Act and serve as reminder to other public officials with the penchant to want to hide from the public what they should know as of right that there is no place for such secrecy in a democracy.
This case is particularly galling because the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, is a journalist who should have known better and probably averted the matter going to court. What is secretive in the amount the country spent on a fiesta like the World Cup? This concerns public expenditure which Nigerians have the right to know.
It is matters like this that put governments in avoidable judgment debts that in our case run into billions of naira cumulatively because of the culture of impunity on the part of many public servants. These are monies that should be spent on provision of infrastructure and other developmental projects.