BusinessDay... the voice of business: Probe of oil sector and non-passage of FOI bill

Probe of oil sector and non-passage of FOI bill
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EJIOFOR ALIKE on 07 May, 2008 02:00:00
 
On Tuesday, April 29, 2008, the House of Representatives threw away the Freedom
of Information bill, which has been before it since last year, for the fifth
time.
This has attracted widespread condemnation from the Newspapers Proprietors'
Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Nigerian Union of Journalists, human rights
activists, Adams Oshiomole, former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress
(NLC) and a host of other civil society coalitions.
In a statement issued at the end of an Executive Council meeting held last
Wednesday in Lagos, NPAN noted what it called "the trivial manner in which the
house members treated the Freedom of Information Bill at their sitting on
Tuesday, April 29, 2008."
NPAN is of the view that the conduct of the honourable members showed lack of
seriousness with the issues of anti-corruption and accountability which the bill
seeks to entrench.
Oil and gas experts agree with NPAN that if the bill had been signed, the
various probes, especially in the oil sector, which the house was embarking on
would have been unnecessary.
This is because the bill seeks to force the timely release of information about
government and the conduct of its officials.
It is also the contention of most stakeholders in the oil and gas industry that
by treating such exercise with disdain, the House of Representatives has called
to question the real intent of the planned probe of the oil and gas sector.
Analysts are in fact, suspicious of the planned exercise, since the House
appears not to be supporting transparency in the first place, by refusing to
pass the FOI.
It is being insinuated in some quarters that the exercise may be another means
of witch-hunting unfortunate individuals for the sole purpose of dragging their
names in the mud so as to play to the gallery.
"If the House of Representatives is not ready to allow Nigerians to know the
graft going on in government by denying journalists access to information, what
moral authourity do the honourable members have to probe the past deeds of the
previous administration,?" queried an oil expert.
The expert insisted that if the members are sincere in their real intentions,
they should have subjected themselves and the present administration to public
scrutiny by making information relating to their activities accessible to
journalists through the passage of FOI bill.
Nigerians need not "to wait another four or even eight years when the tenure of
this administration will end before they find out if government officials have
been true to their oath to administer the wealth of the nation judiciously,"
said NPAN in statement.
Even during the passage of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency
Initiatives (NEITI) bill, the original bill was also alleged to have been
tampered with to deny Nigerians access to information.
It was alleged that the National Assembly added some provisions that would
serve as a leeway for oil companies to deny Nigerians information on their
activities in the country.
Aside undermining the right to freedom of information, the action of the
honourable members could also encourages pilfering of the nation's oil
resources.
Some legal experts had drawn the attention of Nigerians to section 3 (d) of the
bill where the National Assembly added a provision that could help oil companies
withhold information on their activities.
The original section 3 (d) states that one of the primary objectives of NEITI
is to: "obtain, as may be deemed necessary, from any extractive industry company
an accurate record of the cost of  production and volume of sale of oil, gas or
other minerals extracted by the company at any period".
But the National Assembly later added : "provided that such information shall
not be used in any manner prejudicial to the contractual obligation or
proprietary interests of the extractive industry company" to the original bill.
Oil and gas analysts believe the addition of this proviso would make oil
companies not to disclose certain information that are of public interests.
The right to freedom of information does not require information seekers to
provide reasons for seeking information.
But with the addition of this proviso oil companies could ask information
seekers to provide reasons for seeking any information on their activities.
The House of Representatives should therefore pass the FOI or stop all the
suspicious probes it is carrying out.
Some analysts are also calling on journalists to boycott all the activities of
the House, including their various probes as a means of putting pressure on the
honourable members to pass the bill.