It is now very glaring that there are certain
hideous forces behind the non-passage of the Freedom of Information
bill sent to our honourables long time ago.
The reason why this bill has not been passed is
discernible: the guilty is afraid. Let all Nigerians come to the
realization that the only loser so far in the non-passage of this bill
is our beloved country, Nigeria.
Fundamentally, the essence of this bill is to
facilitate free information about public officers, government
agencies, government itself and activities of those who govern us. In
the United States of America and Great Britain as examples, there have
consistently been high level public scandals involving highly placed
public officers. Eliot Spitzer recently resigned as New York Governor
because it was revealed freely that he was having his ‘waist massaged’
and indeed making love to a prostitute. Even Richard Nixon, a sitting
President of the great America resigned his position over the
Watergate affair.
In Great Britain, David Blunkett resigned
as Home Secretary after admitting he fathered a child in a love affair
with Kimberly Quinn, the American publisher of the Spectator magazine
and a married woman. The affair came out after it was revealed he had
fast tracked a visa for her nanny.
Peter Hain resigned as work and pensions secretary
also in Britain following the announcement that the Metropolitan
police will investigate his failure to declare donations to his deputy
leadership campaign worth more than £100,000.
In a statement outside his department, Hain said he
felt he had "no alternative" but to quit once he learned he would be
the subject of a police investigation into an alleged criminal
offence.
Intelligent students of International politics also
are aware that Tony Blair would have continued as British Prime
Minister, if there was no free information being circulated about his
government’s activities especially as it concerns the Iraqi War. One
can cite innumerable examples of such powerful personalities who have
had to resign their positions in shame and derision after gross
misconduct while serving their fatherland. It is instructive that
these resignations occurred because of the robust information about
the affairs and activities of such persons.
Furthermore, the countries where they served
benefited from the resignations due to their inability to continue the
spate of the nefarious activities, hypocrisy and moral burden usually
associated with such public officers.
Let us bring the issue to our African shore. I
remember with nostalgia how information flowed freely in African
communities on the bad elements. Such men and women were never hidden
but publicised so that everyone will take note and possibly ‘eat with
them with a long spoon.’ Among this rank include the common thief,
witches and wizards, juju men and women, prostitutes, vagabonds,
adulterers et cetera.
Our traditional African societies did not spare
these people as whenever they erred, there were treated to different
degrees of public ridicule. This served as a deterrent to others,
while proving to them that they were undesirable elements, who the
societies abhorred and detested.
In those traditional societies then, every elder
and parent was a teacher and guardian to all youth within the
community. Any elder could spank any erring child and the adage is
‘that not only a parent trains a child’.
Along came western civilization and the infamous
jet age. As the name implies, the jet has now crashed and things have
fallen apart. Those days in my community, it was a thing of joy to
behold an eight year old garnish his statements with proverbs and
figurative terms. Those were learnt from the wise old men. Many of
those wise sayings and proverbs cited the doom, which awaits evil men
and women. Everyone was conscious of what goes around him or her and
particularly was careful about those in the black book of the
community.
In our present day Nigeria, those who commit crimes
are shielded not only by the law enforcement agencies but even by
those in government. In the press, such phrases as “name withheld”
have become a recurring terminology. The reason why those names are
withheld is mind-boggling. Why conceal the name of a criminal or law
breaker? Who benefits from this concealment? The result is that the
criminal is emboldened to continue the anti-social escapades because
he or she has been allowed to operate under cover.
This is exactly what our lawmakers are doing by
systematically refusing to pass the Freedom of Information Bill. The
space should be opened to all investigators and journalists to sniff
around for news, scandals and cover ups, which in the end will rid our
country of bad men and women.
To drive the point home, the present scandal being
unravelled in the power sector under the last administration, would
most probably have been exposed long time ago, if there was a Free
Information Bill in place. With the many swooping and nosey
journalists all over the place, I doubt if none of them would not have
blown the whistle.
The question must be asked as to why there are more
high profile resignations from public office in countries with
unfettered Information flow than fettered ones? Why for instance, do
more bad public officers forced to resign in United States of America
than in Zimbabwe? The principal reason is that in the former,
investigative journalism is prevalent while lacking in the latter.
Relatively, I posit also that given the contrasting
situations in both countries, the United States of America has an edge
in human development over Zimbabwe. While more and more unscrupulous
elements in government are weeded out in America, more and more of
them are harboured in Zimbabwe.
Nigerians have a choice to make: either fight for
the FOI Bill to be passed and have fewer bad eggs in government or
continue to stay aloof, while tens of thousands of them continue to
drag us backward.
I believe that the current crop of lawmakers on
their own; without any prompting and indeed a citizen-driven agitation
will not pass the FOI bill into law. They have to be possibly heckled
and pressured to pass this bill and now is the time for Nigerians to
mobilise, agitate and force them to do so.
For a long time, Nigerians have remained passive and dormant in
issues affecting their own welfare and livelihood. This inaction on
our part is responsible for the sorry state of the country today.
People like Ben Nwabueze have called for a revolution, I however do
not share with him that idea of a revolution. Rather, Nigerians must
learn how to make their public officers accountable and respectful.
Let us begin by continuously making a demand without ceasing that the
Freedom of Information Bill lying on the floor of the Houses of Senate
and Representatives for a long while now be passed into law in our
collective interest. Before insisting on the responsibility of those
who rule over us, we must be responsible ourselves. This is the only
way and this is the difference between us and others in Europe and
America.
