Lawmakers across the national and state houses of assembly have been urged to make greater use of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, 2011, as a powerful legal instrument to obtain information from agencies under the executive arm of government.

Making the call, the Media Rights Agenda (MRA) said this will strengthen evidence-based law-making, improve committee investigations, enhance budget oversight, and promote transparency and accountability in public administration.

In a statement, MRA noted that experiences from many other countries demonstrate that FOI laws are not solely for journalists and civil society organisations, but that legislators could use them as statutory tools to reinforce constitutional oversight powers, particularly where executive agencies delay, withhold or limit disclosure through ordinary parliamentary channels.

MRA’s Legal Officer, Mr Monday Arunsi, stated that though the constitution empowers the legislature to conduct oversight of the executive through committee hearings, investigations and other mechanisms, the FOI Act provides an additional and complementary avenue through which individual legislators and legislative committees can obtain official records and information for informed law-making and effective oversight.

According to him, the right of access to information guaranteed by the FOI Act is available to “any person”, without requiring the applicant to demonstrate any specific interest or reason for seeking the information. He added that legislators enjoy the same statutory right as every other person to request and receive information held by public institutions.

Noting that many legislative committees often complain about the refusal of public institutions and officials to provide requested documents or fully cooperate with oversight activities, Arunsi advised legislators to strengthen their position by invoking the provisions of the FOI Act, which imposes clear legal obligations on public institutions to disclose information within stipulated timelines and provides remedies where access is unlawfully or wrongfully denied.

He stressed that resorting to the FOI Act should not be viewed as diminishing the constitutional authority of the legislature but rather as reinforcing the principle that public information belongs to the people and that all public officials are accountable for the management of public resources and the discharge of public functions.

Legislators actively using the FOI Act would also serve as role models for citizens, civil society organisations, journalists, researchers and community groups by demonstrating the practical value of access to information in promoting participatory governance and public accountability, Arunsi added.

Citing examples of the usage of FOI laws by legislators in other countries, he noted that in the United Kingdom, MPs and members of the House of Lords have used their country’s Freedom of Information Act, 2000, to obtain information from government departments, particularly when other parliamentary mechanisms proved inadequate.

According to him, though primarily used by opposition MPs, they often combine FOI requests with parliamentary questions, debates and committee inquiries, while the law has been especially useful for obtaining documentary evidence that cannot easily be secured through parliamentary questions alone.

Arunsi further noted that UK parliamentarians have used FOI requests to obtain National Health Service (NHS) waiting time statistics, government spending records, police and crime data, immigration statistics, education funding allocations, environmental information and departmental correspondence and reports, adding that such disclosures have frequently informed parliamentary debates and committee investigations.

He also urged Nigerian legislative committees to systematically and strategically use the FOI Act to seek budget implementation reports, procurement records, contract documents, details of public expenditures, travel expenses by public officials, audit reports, personnel records, environmental impact assessments, policy documents, concession agreements, public-private partnership arrangements and other records necessary for effective oversight.