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Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has indicted the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), as one of the Federal Government agencies and parastatals working against the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) and in the process inducted it into its “Freedom of Information (FOI) Hall of Shame.”
According to Morisola Alaba, MRA’s legal officer, FRC was indicted for operating in secrecy contrary to the provisions of the FOI Act and the purpose of the Commission itself, which is to foster greater transparency and accountability in the Federal Government’s fiscal operations, in accordance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
In a statement released on Monday in Lagos, MRA accused the FRC of persistently neglecting to comply with any of its obligations under the FOI Act, most of which complement the spirit of the FRC Act, which established the Commission.
“It is astonishing and incredible that rather than seize on the opportunity that the FOI Act provides the Commission to strengthen its functions and responsibilities and ensure transparency in its operations, it chose to ignore both its establishment Act, the FOI Act and other laws enacted to ensure transparency, accountability and ultimately, good governance in Nigeria,” Alaba said.
The group specifically, accused the FRC of failing to proactively publish the various categories of information, which it is required to proactively disclose by the FOI Act; failing to designate an officer to whom FOI requests should be sent as well as disseminating the name and contact details of the officer; failing to conduct appropriate training for its officials and failing to submit its annual FOI implementation reports to the Attorney General of the Federation, among others.
It would be recalled that the Commission was established by the Fiscal Responsibility Commission Act, 2007 to among other things, ‘disseminate such standard practices including international good practice that will result in greater efficiency in the allocation and management of public expenditure, revenue collection, debt control and transparency in fiscal matters’.
The Commission is also charged with the duty to undertake fiscal and financial studies, analysis and diagnosis and disseminate the result to the general public.
The FRC Act, through the Commission, seeks to ensure prudent management of the nation’s resources, as well as secure greater accountability and transparency in fiscal operations within the Medium Term Fiscal Policy Framework (MTEF).
Alaba noted that the Commission’s statutory functions constrain it to proactively publish and disseminate certain kinds of information that would aid good governance thus complementing the provisions of Section 2(3) and (4) of the FOI Act which obligates public institutions to proactively publish 16 categories of information.
“Tragically, the only information of significance available on the website of the Commission are its enabling law and about a page of text about its establishment and functions,” she said
