"freedom of information is great"says garba india by henry ibyaaa

Major General India Garba is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC and substantive Vice President (Commerce), Abuja Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture. In this interview with Henry Ibya, he urged Nigerians, especially the media, to keep the flame aglow and ensure the much sought after Freedom of Information Act, which was painstakingly pursued, is fully operative. He insisted that the Act, as envisioned, is a solution to the plethora of problems our dear country is suffering from, especially corruption and nepotism. He maintained that APC is a people-oriented party that has zero-tolerance for corruption in polity. Garba commented on these and some pertinent national issues. Excerpts:

  How do you assess compliance to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act by Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs), so far?

The Freedom of Information Act 2011 as you stated, came into effect in 2011. And this was as a result of the hard work of the press which saw to it that that Bill became a reality. After that some of us have gone to court, we made request for information and at the refusal to to give us the information, we went to court. But it looks to me like once the press has succeeded in bringing about the Act, they are not interested in making sure that the Act become properly operative, to the extent that even where orders of courts are given in favour of those who make requests, the implementation by the various agencies of government or individuals have not been enforced, and the press has not done anything to bring this about.

          For example, in 2012, to be precise October 31^st, the court sitting in Vandeikya, ordered the Local Government to provide information on the amount allocated to them from the Federation Account on a monthly basis, and what it was used for. As I speak to you till date, the LG has not responded. We have caused the court to try and enforce the order of the court through its processes. But if you look at it section 21 of that Act says that the cases can be of summary trial, which means that it should not go through the whole hog of the process, and in fact there is no need for this stress because the Act already, for example, the information we are asking for is supposed to be in the budget. But the truth is that no Local Government in Benue state, as far as I know has a budget.  They operate from the breast pocket, and only state what you call income and expenditure on a monthly basis. So they don’t have a budget, and whatever comes to them they spend the way they want it, and that is why for 14 years now, no local government in Benue state is performing. And we expect the press to be serious and support and to make sure that people know that they have a right to ask for information. Because this is the only thing that will bring about good governance; this is the only thing that will reduce corruption, and this is the only thing that will let people know their rights.

Once this is not done, it is not going to help. So to answer your question directly, the Freedom of Information Act, even where the courts are able to give orders for compliance, the institutions are not complying. But this has to come to the notice of the public that the government and agencies are acting with impurity, in disobedience to court orders.  The courts have powers also of enforcing their orders where defendants flout such orders.

 But the courts have powers of enforcing their judgments when a defendant flouts them. Don’t you think they should apply these instruments forcefully to compel compliance from the defaulting government agencies?

We are going by the court processes. For example, in my own case, we have given form 48 and we have equally provided form 49, which is an attempt to compel the court to send the people to jail for contempt. Of course the legal process is that the lawyers of the defense have to put in defaces. The whole story is that the defense counsel in all cases would like to prolong the matter, because most of the courts judges are upright and are doing their jobs. A few may be in support of government and would like to ensure that the process is slowed down in favour of the government. But I can say that in my own case that judge has been very articulate and he’s worked very hard. The court cannot compel, if proper procedure is not followed. So we are following the procedures and we hope that it will commit the people to prison.

What specifically did you expect the press to do to ensure the Act becomes fully operative?

 I expect the press to let people know that these cases are on and all cases of the Freedom of Information Act, the press should ensure they bring them to the notice of the public. This will help the people to know that yes, there is merit in what is going on, and that if you have any problem and you make a request to an agency of government it will fully obey. Without the press making people to know, the Act, even though there, will remain dormant.

In most cases the civil servant hide under the court secretly and refuse to release information requested for even after the passage of the Act. Most of them hide under the canopy of ‘selective media syndrome’ to deny other access to information. What do you think can be done about this type of situation?

The Act is also very clear; once there is no security implication there is no way the agencies of government should refuse. And even where they think that there is security implication, it is not for them to decide, they can write to the court and the court will decide whether there is a security implication or not.

What in your own opinion are the implications of the freedom of information Act in fighting corruption?

The Act will help in fighting corruption in the sense that  when people ask for information and that information is against what government  is doing the government will come with tender information. When the said information gets to the person requesting it he is at liberty to make use it for the knowledge of the people in either suing the agency of government or what have you. Now if people get to know that they have a right of knowing what government is doing at various levels, you will now see that the people who are perpetrating these corrupt acts will become frightened that sooner or later that it will become public view that they are corrupt and that they could be taken to jail. So it will lower or deter them from stealing. It is not that people do not know that government official are stealing, they know, but there is no forum for them to come up with it. Now if a government agency say, a contract was awarded for N100 million of course there are people who will rate the contract and say this contract is not worth N5 million. So they will challenge it in court or at whatever level, be it at the ICPC level or EFCC level. So it will reduce corruption.

The procedure to compel people and agencies to comply with the provision of the Act are expensive, given the average earning capacities of the average citizen. What suggestion do you have I terms of scaling this hurdle, having seen the antecedents of the MDAs so far?

 One, through the FOI Act will check the corruption tendencies of most of these people we are talking about. Two, I would expect that there should be something like class action. The society, through class action can bring about a change; they will help to reduce the cost of these cases. And three, the courts should use summary trials. In case of class Action, a group, for example 23 local governments in Benue state, a group, within can now take it upon themselves to say; let us ask the local government to tell us what they have been doing with the funds available. And once this happens, you will find that the cost of litigation will reduce. And once it becomes everybody’s interest, the agencies of government in question will now feel compelled to do what is right. Some NGO’S can help to bring this about when people bring such cases.

What should Nigeria expect specifically from APC’s coming on stream to do use their skepticisms about Nigerian politicians?

APC is a party of the masses; it is a party whose manifestoes want to correct all the evils that are currently going on. Corruption, after the preambles, is the first that APC is going to fight. Secondly, the APC has taken care of all the issues that should be handled in order to make the living conditions of Nigerians to be better than it is today. The APC has people credibility, but then when the head is okay, the body is okay. And the Chinese people have said, the leader is like the wind flowing through a direction, and the people are like the grass that must follow the direction of the wind. So if the wind is good wind, the people follow and enjoy; if it is bad wind as we presently have, the people will suffer. The APC once it comes into government, not just for the sake of coming to power for its own sake but for changing the lives of the people; it is not just taking power for its own sake, but for making the lives of Nigerians worthy of them being called Nigerians. Nigeria is rich, everybody agree that it is, but it is the way things are happening that is bad.  In so many areas, corruption is taking place. This is why I said earlier that corruption will be fought to a standstill in an APC government. And the party says it is going to be accountable to Nigerians and Nigerians should be prepared to ask questions.

What internal names have your party put in place to check the overbearing influence of party leaders, especially in the selection of candidates for elections?

An APC government has a constitution which says there will be no imposition.  It says there will be internal discipline, which means that internal democracy is there; the wishes of people will count, and we will ensure that it counts by using the instruments of the constitution, individuals will not be the owners of the party; the people will be the owners of the party, that is why it is called All Progressive Congress.