Professional News

Abstract

NationalAssembly Passes FOI Bill again The Nigerian National Assembly, made up of two chambers- House of Representative and Senate, has passed the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill. It is nowawaiting the harmonisation of the two chambers before it will be presented to His Excellency President Goodluck Jonathan for his assent. It will be recalled that the former National Assembly passed the bill after much foot dragging. Unfortunately, the required assent was not given before the end of the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, hence the present sojourn of the bill in the National Assembly. Feelers from the Presidency are that the President would assent to the bill once it is presented to him. Some countries in Africa- SouthAfrica, Uganda,Angola andZimbabwe have enacted the FOI bill.