FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (FOI) ACT, 2011 AND PUBLIC INFORMATION MANAGEMENT IN AKWA IBOM STATE

Abstract

Since the enactment of the FOI Act in 2011, different institutional bottlenecks have impeded its effectiveness, making it to exist more in theory than in practice. This has made salient information that would have impacted life in the society to be circumscribed, leading to misinformation, chaos and violence-prone activities. This paper therefore examines the extent to which the FOI Act has facilitated free
access to public information by public office holders in Akwa Ibom. To properly guide the work, 3 objectives and 3 research questions were raised. Descriptive research design was used to gather information from the respondents, who were mainly media practitioners. Questionnaire was used as instrument of data collection. Transparency Theory was used as a suitable framework to guide the work. Findings revealed that although the passage of the Freedom of Information Act in 2011, information seekers have not been able to fully utilize the law to their advantage to hold public officials accountable to the people. Such challenges as ignorance, executive immunity, exclusion of the private sectors and rigid legal procedures were some of the factors respondents believed to have impeded access to public information through the instrumentality of the Freedom of Information Act. The paper concludes that citizens should know their rights within the ambit of the law, public officials who rely solely on section 11 of the FOI Act should be made to comply with Section 2 of the FOI, which mandates them to properly keep public records in a manner that facilitates public access to such records and recommends that the law should be amended to cover access to information held by the private sectors.