MRA inducts NIMC into the FOI Hall of Shame
Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has
inducted the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) too into its
Freedom of Information (FOI) Hall of Shame, saying it was recognizing the
agency for its determined efforts to undermine the effectiveness of the FOI
Act, 2011.
MRA accused the Commission of
failing to comply with its duties and obligations under the FOI Act, including
the most simple and straightforward aspects of the law that do not present any
implementation challenges or that would cost it nothing to comply with.
In a statement in Lagos, Ayode
Longe, MRA’s Programme Director, said: “In the absence of any explanation to
the contrary, it would appear that the NIMC has adopted a deliberate policy of
non-compliance with the FOI Act, which really amounts to shooting itself in the
foot as such an attitude robs it of the public trust and confidence that it
requires to execute its mandate efficiently and effectively.”
MRA noted that the NIMC is a
vital government agency, established by the NIMC Act No. 23 of 2007, to operate
Nigeria’s national identity management systems, including the national identity
card database, integrate the existing identity database in government
institutions, register individuals and legal residents, assign a unique
national identification number and introduce general multi-purpose cards.
But it stated that the Commission
had failed over the years to act in accordance with the requirements of the FOI
Act, including its obligation to conduct appropriate training for its officials
on the public’s right of access to government-held information and equip
relevant staff with the skills to effectively implement the Act as provided by
Section 13 of the Act.
“Among many other arguments which
can be made, one reason why the Commission’s attitude is troubling is the fact
that as an agency that collects and maintains citizens’ personal data, it owes
the citizens a duty to be open and to let them know how it collects the data,
what it does with the data, how it keeps them and, crucially, allow citizens
access to information held about them and be able to correct their own personal
data where there are errors.”
MRA also observed that over the
last six years, the NIMC has not designated an officer to whom FOI requests
should be sent in utter disregard of Section 2(3) (f) of the Act, while it has
also never, during the same period since the coming into force of the Act,
submitted a single FOI implementation report to the Attorney General of the
Federation as required by Section 29 (1) (a - h) of the FOI Act and in
accordance with the provisions of the Guidelines on the Implementation of the
FOI Act issued by the Attorney General of the Federation.
Longe also noted that “the NIMC
has not published on its website most of the categories of information it is
expected to publish that will assist the public in making requests for
information to the Commission. For instance, there is no information on its
website about the classes of records it holds or information relating to grants
or contract it had made; the list of all its staff and their salaries;
information relating to the receipt or expenditure of public funds; manuals
used by its employees in administering or carrying out any of its programmes or
activities; documents containing substantive rules of the institution; or any
list of files containing applications for contracts, permits, grants, licenses
or agreements, etc, among many categories of information that the Act requires
it to publish.”
MRA also questioned the
Commission’s responsiveness to requests for information from the public, saying
that there is also no indication that it has granted any request for
information made to it.
On the contrary, it said, in
September 2014, when two non-governmental organisations, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) and Public
and Private Development Centre (PPDC), requested from the NIMC pursuant to the
FOI Act, details of the agreement between it and MasterCard leading to the use
of the MasterCard logo in the National Identity Card, it took more than one
month for the NIMC to respond despite reminders and when it eventually did by
its letter dated October 24, 2014, it refused to disclose the information
requested with a bogus national security claim.
MRA called on the NIMC to redeem
its image by complying with the provisions of the FOI Act and to demonstrate
that it actually holds “transparency” as one of its core values.
Launched on July 3, 2017, the FOI
Hall of Shame shines the spotlight on public officials and institutions that
are undermining the effectiveness of the FOI Act through their actions,
inactions, utterances and decisions.
MRA’s 16-minute video documentary
titled The Dirty Dozen which focuses on the first 12 inductees into the FOI
Hall of Shame is available for viewing on Youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU7MEisRQqM
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