THE reception held last Friday at Excellence Hotel, Ogba, Lagos had a specific objective. And the compere, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, Director of the International Press Centre (IPC) did not hesitate as he announced that the reception 'is to honour Mr. Ojo for receiving the Pan African Conference on Access to Information (PACAI) award for his role in the campaign for the enactment of the FOI law in Nigeria'.The award was conferred on Mr. Ojo at the just concluded Pan African Conference on Access to Information (PACAI) in Cape Town. It was formally presented to him by Nigeria's Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku on behalf of the conference organisers at an awards night and reception attended by about 1,000 delegates from all over the world.The Working Group of the Windhoek+20 Coalition, the organisers of the Cape Town conference said, Mr. Ojo was given the award for 'his tireless struggles over 15 years in advancing media and information issues, culminating in Nigeria's historic Freedom of Information Act in 2011.'But Arogundade briefed the gathering that attracted a broad section of Nigerians including teachers in journalism schools, media practitioners, freedom of information advocates, writers, environmental activists, transparency groups, donor agencies among others about certain steps taken by the organising committee concerning the event.He said, 'when Tive Denedo and I finally met Edet two days ago to inform him about this reception, he responded the way we expected. 'But you people know I don't like things like this,' he protested and then quickly reminded us that FOI struggle was a collective one for which he would not want all the credits to be attributed to him alone.'We nodded sympathetically to his comments but firmly told him that arrangements had gone far for the reception and there was no turning back. Indeed, when we reeled the names of the organisations constituting the sponsoring committee, he expressed more amazement as he wiped sweat off his shinning forehead; a situation not helped by the fact that we were interrupting his lunch.'Ojo's reaction, Arogundade insisted, 'defines the essence of the man we are honouring today: no self-adulation, no craving for publicity, no hankering for honour ' but just belief in principles, dedication to a cause and tireless efforts to achieve set objectives.'According to the IPC boss said, 'it is a matter of pride to the entire FOI community in Nigeria, that these sterling qualities of Edet were recognized by the Pan African Conference on Access to Information (PACAI), who recently presented him with an award for his role in the passage of the FOI law in Nigeria and advocacy for access to information across Africa.'But the reception, Arogundade inferred, was also meant to 'celebrate ourselves; for the roles we played individually and collectively in having an FOI law in Nigeria, starting with the pioneering initiative, 15 years ago, of the Civil Liberties Organisation, the Media Rights Agenda (MRA) and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).'The choice of Taking the FOI forward as the theme of the reception, he stressed, was in recognition of the fact that the real challenge of the moment 'is getting the mass of Nigerians to make use of the FOI law to make relevant enquiries at all levels of governance in the country.'He mentioned ensuring that the three tiers of government and all public institutions under them put in place institutional mechanisms and structure for applying for information and getting feedback in accordance with the FOI law as another challenge.He rounded off his speech by thanking members of the organizing and sponsoring committee for their quick response 'at a very short notice.'They included Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ); Institute for Media and Society (IMESO); CLEEN Foundation; Project Alert; Lagos NUJ; International Press Centre; Center for Constitutionalism and Demilitarisation (CENCOD); Women Advocate, Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC); Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE); Centre for Constitutional Governance (CCG); Gender and Development Action (GADA); Environmental Rights Action (ERA); and the Freedom of Information Coalition (FOIC).Personalities present at the occasion included legal and human rights activist, Femi Falana; Vice President of NUJ Rotimi Obamuwagun; poet and social critic, Odia Ofeimun; Bamidele Aturu; Chairman, Lagos NUJ, Deji Elumoye; Akin Akingbulu of IMESO; Journalism teacher at Lagos State University (LASU), Tunde Akanni; Dr. Sylverster Odion of CENCOD; Patrick Agbebaku-Izobo of the Nigerian Press Council (NPC); Blessing Abiri of CLEEN Foundation among others.While all speakers at the over 2 hours event eulogized the contribution of Ojo to the struggle for FOI law in Nigeria, and all over Africa, the challenge ahead in moving the campaign to the next level of implementation ran through all the speeches. And the journalists are essentially tasked to drive this next phase. The best way to celebrate, Femi Falana insisted, was to be able to give testimonies about the use of the law. He buttressed his argument with certain requests his law firm had made to get information concerning certain developmental steps some government agencies had taken in recent past. He expressed dismay that journalists have not shown enough courage in this crusade of making the law to work and achieve its objectives of openness, transparency and accountability in the conduct of government businesses in the country.In his brief remarks, Ojo echoed the same point saying that having the FOI law in place will be meaningless without achieving its ultimate objectives. 'We need to get all our people to start using this law. We are all entitled to use the law. We have to mobilise people to put the law into use to make a difference, as there is so much impunity in the system.'The MRA chief tasked every participant at the reception to make a commitment that 'in the next one week, request in accordance with the FOI law will be made to any agency in the country whose activity impacts on the public.'He also canvassed the need to design a system of coordinating the requests for information under FOI regime. Through this, he said, it would be easier to know whether the law is working or not.Ojo, who had earlier, in his remarks expressed misgiving about the way the reception was planned, however ended on a joyous note saying, 'to be honest with you, I think I have enjoyed it a bit.'In a long speech presented on behalf of the NUJ national President, Mallam Mohammed Garba, mass public enlightenment and regular in-house training sessions designed to equip journalists with the right knowledge and understanding of the law are recommended.'At the level of mass public enlightenment, the rationale is the need to also put the average Nigerian in the position of being able to use the law to challenge suspected corrupt government officials and institutions. Mass public enlightenment is a vital complement to the routine orientation of journalists in the nature and general architecture of the Act.' NUJ president admonished.
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