Foi Counsel

FOI Counsel are lawyers dedicated to advancing the objectives of FOIA in Nigeria, with a commitment to promoting participatory governance and access to justice. Independent access to government-held information is guaranteed primarily by the Constitution, the Freedom of Information Act 2011, and other legislation in Nigeria. These laws allow citizens to become aware and, if motivated, be involved in the policy formulation process and debate. The only mechanism by which we can assure governmental integrity is to have a clear understanding of what the government is doing. Getting documents and other valuable information from the government is usually a crucial component in the resolution of any problem involving the operations or activities of bureaucrats. The FOIA is the best means of access to significant resources of information that would not otherwise be available to the public. FOI Counsel is interested in enforcing the right of citizen journalists to information available in any frontier or form. FOI Counsel delivers a timely and professional review of non-responsive requests or denial of information or record of the government. FOI Counsel hopes to bring MDAs back to the traditional role of disclosure and, by so doing, energize the objective of the law. FOI litigation remains a channel of confrontation attempt at participatory democracy without which FOI policy will be struggling on the starting block, yet it does not intend to make litigation out of every request, believing that MDAs' conscience will be pricked by litigation and they will return to their prime assignment of proactive disclosure under the law.