A WO-DAYNational Summit on the Freedom of Information Act opens today at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.Being organised by the Media Rights Agenda (MRA) in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Pact Nigeria, the summit will be declared open by the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, while the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), will deliver the keynote address. The chairman of the opening ceremony is Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese.Over 100 participants from different parts of the country representing various sectors of society are expected at the two-day event to discuss the implementation of the Information Act from various perspectives.The summit, according to the organisers, is borne out of the critical need to bring together representatives of key stakeholder groups across different sectors of the society, including the federal government and its agencies; state Governments and their agencies; the public, the media, corporate bodies, civil society, among others, to discuss and agree on the broad outlines of a multi-layered strategy for ensuring the effective implementation of the Act.Although there have been a number of initiatives within civil society and the government aimed at developing strategies for the implementation of the Act, none of these efforts, it is observed, 'has adequately engaged most of the critical stakeholders. For instance, although the Federal Government has set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee to develop implementation strategies for government, there appears to be no consultation with other interest groups, including civil society and the media, in developing such strategies and the committee is also apparently not taking public institutions at the state and local government levels into account in its work as they are not involved in the exercise,' argued Executive Director of MRA, Edetaen Ojo.Adding, he said, 'similarly, although some civil society groups and networks have also met to develop strategies for ensuring effective implementation, these processes have also not engaged other critical stakeholders.'We believe that without a concerted effort among a broad spectrum of stakeholders to develop a broad-based strategy, the full potential of the Law might not be realised.This is because the framework for implementation of the Act ought to harvest ideas from a broad range of stakeholders on the modalities for their effective engagement in the implementation process, with elements of the strategy reinforcing each other. It is our view that this would be best achieved through a collaborative process among all critical stakeholders in developing such a strategy.'Specifically, the objectives of the summit include: To engage in broad-based consultations among representatives of key stakeholders in the public sector, particularly the Executive and the Legislature; civil society, the media, the private sector and other interest groups with outcomes that should feed into a variety of ongoing processes to develop strategies and action plans for effective implementation of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011.To create a platform for an intensive appraisal of the Freedom of Information Act, including identifying its strengths and weaknesses and thereby ensure that participants, especially in the public sector, have a better understanding of its purpose, objectives and potential while also agreeing on strategies for overcoming its inadequacies.To map out wide-ranging strategies for ensuring public awareness of the Act; better knowledge of its provisions by public sector actors and ordinary citizens as well as for the overall effective implementation of the Act, including by identifying the roles which various stakeholders can play in these different processes and aspects.Participants at the summit will include representatives of the National Assembly, the Executive at Federal, State and Local Government levels; security, law enforcement and intelligence services; anti-corruption, regulatory agencies and other oversight bodies; civil society, the media, the private sector, public corporations and state-owned enterprises, the general public and other interest groups.It is expected that a broad strategy document incorporating the roles and approaches of various stakeholders in the implementation of the Act will emerge tomorrow when curtain falls on the summit.
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