Actionaid Nigeria, CITAD Call on Media Practitioners to Sustain Awareness on FOI Act as organisations Train 40

 

Actionaid Nigeria and Centre for Information Technology and Development(CITAD)  have called on media practitioners  in Nigeria to rise to the challenge of sustaining awareness on FOI issues with a view to ensuring that its implementation remains at the front burner of state and none state actors regarding good governance.

The organisations working to improve the lives of the poor and neglected in hard-to reach communities made the call at a capacity building for 40 representatives of 16 communities in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

The essence of the training was to inform, educate and embolden the neglected communities to engage with the government by asking questions on issues affecting them, especially issues pertaining to social amenities and governance generally, in their constituencies.

Cross section of participants at the  training on FOI Act organised for communities in Abuja by Actionaid Nigeria and CITAD on Wednesday at Dutse in Abuja.

Some of the beneficiary communities are Tungan-Ashere, Leleyi Gwari, Paseppa, Kilankwa, Pai, Leleyi Bassa, Tukpechi, Kuchibuyi, Guto among others.

The one-day training which held at Dutse, Abuja, Nigeria  on Wednesday, drew participants from the communities cutting across the five area councils of the FCT where Actionaid Nigeria and CITAD have been offering interventions for over five years.

Speaking in an interview, CITAD Programme Officer, Yesmin Salako stated that   the purpose of the training was to give the community people the knowledge because knowledge is very important.

 “They should know that they have the right to ask the government for their basic rights because they are lawful citizens that pay tithe and contribute their part towards building the nation, so they should be able to speak for their basic rights, go for it, and write to engage the government. If they are lacking facilities and amenities in their communities, they can demand for it. We are hopeful that at the end they will be able to engage their leaders and get result. “

 Earlier while delivering the welcome address, Salako explained that the training aimed at educating the people on how to hold the government accountable and exercise their rights in the area of basic social amenities.

According to her, as civil society organisation covering training, advocacy, using ICT to empower the people, CITAD  partnered with Action aid Nigeria to sensitize the communities on their right to access information about issues that directly affect their wellbeing.

Giving an overview of the FOI Act, the State Coordinator, Youth Digital Engagement for Actionaid Nigeria, Mubarak Ekute attributed the lack of information on basic rights faced by the FCT communities  to the deprivation of social amenities like roads, electricity, schools and portable water.

“Rural communities are vulnerable to deprivation from government agencies. Rural women who are among those deprived of basic amenities, experience increased risk of poverty and lack of development due to lack of information on what the government has promised to deliver.

“FOI has provided the public the right to request for access to records from government agencies, parastatals, federal agency which has the potential of contributing to nipping in the bud the current lack of information being experience in rural communities in Nigeria and across Africa which allows for marginalization to take place,” he said.

Also fielding questions from journalists at the event, Ekute said after the training, community representatives would be able to hold their duty bearers accountable.

 “They would be able to write and demand for certain things being done in their communities. There will be a step down training for the larger communities. We are going to follow up and make sure they have a committee that will write FOI and make sure certain things are coming to the community.  Apart from the committee, we will still be following up and engaging them and if they have any challenges we can come in and assist,” he added.

 Speaking in a separate interview with journalist at the event, the Social Mobilization Manager for Actionaid Nigeria, Aewale Adeduntan said Actionaid Nigeria had   observed that the level of awareness about the usage and application of  freedom of information act is abysmally low, therefore,  a lot of  people don’t even know their rights and the fact that they can engage.

“In the 16 communities that are represented in this training, we have so much abandoned projects. We have so many unattended social amenities that should be undertaken for masses to enhance their wellbeing but those things are not there.

“In the course of our interaction with these communities earlier, we realized that they are issues that they do not know about and for that reason they are always in the dark so, from the outcome of  our consultation with the representatives of the social accountability committee we saw the need to organize this training for the people to empower them to ask for information from agencies of government that are related or relevant to what they are asking about or concerned about, “ he said.

He said  it is expected that after the training,  participants would realize that it is their responsibility and entitlement  to ensure that they engage with the government to ask questions on issues that bother them especially on social amenities, and governance generally in their constituency.

 During his presentation on ‘Freedom of Information Act and Right of Access to Information,  Actionaid Nigeria Social Mobilization Manager, told the participants that as citizens of the country, they had the right to ask any government ministry, agency , parastatals or department whatever they needed to know about their government and projects.

“People will severally trample on your rights if you do not know and you cannot engage effectively if you are not informed and you do not know your right,” he added.

He said Nigeria is at the level where it is presently as a result of lack of transparency of public office holders and the government.

In view of the gap in knowledge, Adeduntan said there is need for vigorous awareness campaigns and awareness on the FOI act and citizens must own the FOI and take advantage of its provisions to participate in governance and hold the government accountable

Among others, he recommended that government at all levels must show commitment to the working of the FOI Act by institutionalizing and mainstreaming same in public service and further called on civil society organisations to take advantage of the Act to request for information, challenge government and educate Nigerians on government activities.

 He said with the accountability mechanism of social accountability structure already in place in the communities, Actionaid and CITAD will ensure  all abandoned  projects are tracked “so from those projects we now know which ministries, departments or agencies are responsible for handling such and we now see how we direct their requests to such. “

 Participants who spoke at the end of the training said they felt very delighted having the opportunity to partake in the training.

 The Chief of Tungan-Ashere community, Sani Abubakar said with the training, he is optimistic that there will be transformation in his community in the nearest future.

  “When I get back to the community, I will mobilize my people to do advocacy that will make our community to be developed more than what it is now,”  Abubakar said.

 A female participant, Maimuna Rabiu of Gofidna community  said she felt so excited participating in the programme because  she had acquire a lot of knowledge  on the Freedom of Information Act and will return back home to engage with government representative on their rights.