By Abel Johngold Orheruata
The National Orientation Agency (NOA) Delta State Directorate Director, Mr. John Emah has called for the public enlightenment of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act and Open Government Partnership (OGP) principles.
Mr. Emah made the call when given his keynote address at the National Orientation Agency (NOA) One Day sensitization campaign to promote transparency and accountability in governance using the provisions of Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2011 and Open Government Partnership (OGP) principles, held on Tuesday, 18th December, 2018, in Asaba.
The NOA Director disclosed that one of the roles of the Agency’s was to raise awareness on the provisions of the FoI Act. Adding that the whole essence of the FoI Act and OGP was to strengthen our democracy.
“The whole essence is to strengthen our democracy because when citizens are empowered with access to public information they can assist in making informed contributions to our democratic process” – Mr. Emah asserted.
He enumerated some of the FoI Act advantages to include ensuring public participation in government; businesses of governance openness to public scrutiny, scarce resources are judiciously put to use for the well – being of citizens among others.
Mr Emah stated that the OGP was an international multi – stakeholder global coalition of reformers from government and civil society, working to make governance transparent, participatory and accountable ,to truly serve and empower the citizens.
He added that as a voluntary and domestically driven initiative, it was a platform for governments, civil society actors and other interested parties to work together and make government more open and accountable.
In his goodwill message, the Delta State Commissioner for Information, Hon. Patrick Ukah noted that governance should be hinted on constant truth to solve challenges facing any government.
Hon. Ukah who was represented by the Ministry of Information Chief Information Officer and Newsroom Operation Editor, Comrade Churchill Oyowe, stated that when government hides truth from the governs it create more problems for itself so there was no basis to lie in governance.
The Honourable Commissioner, charged NOA as information providers and other participants at the program to take the sensitization campaign to all nooks and crannies of the State.
The Acting General Manager of The Pointer Newspapers, Mr. Celestine Ofuani, noted that the major problem hindering the effectiveness of the FoI Act was its full implementation despite being signed into law since 2011. Adding that the rationale behind the FoI Act were not being put to use which was one of the reasons for this sensitization campaign. That with basic training, the needed manpower to popularize the FoI Act would be because NOA cannot do it alone.
Mr. Ofuani urged the organizers and all participants to take the program as a stepping stone to equipped themselves in sensitizing the general public on the uses and advantages of the FoI Act and OGP principles.
While urging Nigerians to contribute their quota to the FoI Act and OGP to make Nigeria a better place, the Chairman of the Delta State Muslim Pilgrimage Board, Alhaji Awula Tukur and the representative of the the State Chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. (Prof) Oke Akotutu, stated that our rights cannot be legitimately given to us by those in authorities except we fought for them.
The clergymen urged NOA to be sending all information at their disposal to the appropriate authorities to work.
Other notables personalities that participated in the program includes the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Delta State Council Chairman, Comrade Michael Ikeogwu with some members of his exco, the Delta Broadcasting Services (DBS) Asabs Deputy General Manager Mr. Rukky Edjeren among others.