To further strengthen the capacity of the Judiciary to respond to the increasing demand for openness in the conduct of government’s businesses, requiring for public institutions to allow easy access to information on their activities, the Judiciary held a training for senior court staff on how to effectively deploy the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in aiding efficiency and accountability in processes. Eric Ikhilae reports from Abuja.
In every democracy, public institutions are required to facilitate enhanced public access to information about their activities, with a view to ensuring effective monitoring of government’s activities to promote accountability and transparency in the conduct of public affairs.
The Judiciary, as public institution, is not exempted from this requirement, and is therefore required to shed its conservative and secretive nature to enable it retain the much desired public confidence, in the face of growing consciousness and increasing demand for information.
The realization of the requirement for urgent change in the conduct of its affairs informed a recent workshop in Abuja for senior court workers in the country. The workshop, with the theme: “Promoting transparency and integrity in the Judiciary,” was put together by the National Judicial Institute (NJI), with support from the Open Society Foundation (OSF), A and E Law Partnership and the United Kingdom’s Department of International development (DFID). A training was held for judges between May 5 and 9.
Speakers included the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloma Mukhtar, the Administrator of the NJI, Justice Roseline Bozimo (retired), Justice Tijani Abubakar of the Court of Appeal, Justice Emmanuel Nnamani of the Customary Court of Appeal, Enugu, the Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), Professor Deji Adekunle, Justice Benedict Bakwph Kanyip of the National Industrial Court (NIC) and Deputy Chief Registrar, the Federal High Court, Emmanuel Gakko.
They examined how court workers could effectively deploy the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in meeting the growing demand for openness, accountability and transparency in the conduct of government affairs. Speakers stressed the need for court officials to change their conduct and approach to work in view of the drift towards the twin concepts of open society and participatory governance.
Justice Mukhtar observed that by virtue of its provisions, the FOIA, if properly implemented, will go a long way in “enthroning probity, accountability and transparency in the Judiciary as a public institution. The legislation is a total reflection of the social reconstruction of human reality. It opens up the Judiciary fpr reasoned and intelligent enquiries. It opens a new vista of public acknowledgement, commendation or condemnation.”
The CJN urged participants to strive “to maintain high standard of integrity, incorruptibility, fairness and transparency in the discharge of your duties.” She added that as accounting officers of the courts, they should ensure high level of accountability in the handling of contracts, procurement, resource and time management, among others.
Justice Bozimo explained the training was intended to ensure court workers are driven always by the realization that transparency in court operations was cardinal to ensuring a sustained public confidence in the judiciary.
She said the decision to examine the implications of FOIA and ICT in court operations was informed by the realization that a proper understanding and implementation of the Act “will engender transparency in the Judiciary and entrench accountability and integrity.”
Justice Bozimo argued that in view of the general deployment of ICT for almost every human activity, court administrators could not afford not to embrace ICT in their operations.
In his paper titled: “The FOIA 2011 as a veritable instrument for entrenching best ethical practices among court employees,” Justice Abukakar argued that in view of the public perception that the nation’ Judiciary was corruption driven, court workers cannot afford continue the act pretend as if nobody is watching.
He stressed the importance of the FOIA in the eradication of the various inefficiencies in the judicial system in view of the huge role a functional and effective Judiciary plays in ensuring a prosperous and vibrant democracy.
Justice Anukbakar contended that an effective judiciary could only be realized where transparency and ethical practices among operators of the system are strengthened where agencies mandated to discipline erring judicial officers and other court staff are transparent and fearless in executing their mandates.
“In exercising the power of judicial review (conferred on the court under Section 20 of the FOIA) and protecting the integrity and transparency of the Judiciary, the court, as an arbiter, is expected to be independent, assertive and courageous enough to call a spaded a spade. It is my honest opinion that the way is to do what is right and proper at all times without bending the rules,” Justice Abubakar said.
Justice Nnamani, who took participants through the various provisions of the FOIA and their responsibilities under the law, argued that judicial administrators must familiarize themselves with the Act. He noted that “a good understanding of the Act enables them to resolve likely dilemmas regarding when to release or withhold information and how to do so.”
Prof Adekunle identified the various challenges the impeded the effective implementation of the FOIA, some of which he said, included the general lack of funding for FOI activities in government agencies, general apathy on the part of those intended to implement the Act in view of the high level of ignorance about the provisions of the Act and the lack of proper record keeping practices in government agencies that hamper access to information.
“There is need for intense and continuous sensitization of government officials about the Act. Unless and until government takes concrete steps towards good records management, the success of the FOIA will be in great jeopardy,” Prof Adekunle said.
Justice Kanyip, who examined the current issues in personnel and corporate information management under the FOIA, noted that the task for all information managers in public institutions is how to effectively marry the growing demand for information with the risk of not opening themselves to falling foul of not only the law, but the dictates of their code of conduct.
This he said, could only be effectively dealt with where public institutions set up FOIA Units, manned by staff, who are well schooled in the provisions of the Act, to know what information to release and withhold.
“The dictates of democracy demand that governance must transit from secrecy to openness and hence, accountability must be paramount. The Judiciary is not an exception. In our own way, the Judiciary must key in and promote accountability in governance, not just as arbiters when asked to do, but must be seen as a good example of public institution that upholds the law,” he said.
Gakko, in his paper: “The conduct and attitude of court employees: The need for a paradigm shift,” stressed the need for court workers to realise that the Judiciary is not immune to the various changes taking place around it. He noted that it requires the conviction of the leadership to drive such changes in the Judiciary.
“WE are now in the jet age and anyone, who plays with technological development, would soon become obsolete. Some courts in Nigeria are already operating e-filing. We must be part of this drive and where we fail as court managers, history would judge us. We must lead the younger and energetic staff in this drive,” Gakko said.
To the participants, which included Chief Registrars, Secretaries of Judicial Service Committees/Commissions, Directors of Sharia, Customary and Area Courts and Courts’ Inspectors on Information and Telecommunication Technology, frequent exposure to such training opportunity would go a long way in ensuring the change required to secure a vibrant and effective Judiciary in the country.
