For disregarding the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, the Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has
inducted the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigeria’s petroleum
regulatory agency, into its “FOI Hall of Shame” reports ITRealms.
MRA’s FOI Programme Manager, Mr Ridwan Sulaimon, noted in a
statement in Lagos that “the induction of the DPR into the FOI Hall of Shame
evidences a rot in the oil and gas sector that is pervasive, deep-seated and
apparently intractable, as it is the fourth public institution in the sector to
be awarded this badge of dishonour within a period of one year for lack of
transparency and accountability arising from the flagrant violation of the FOI
Act.”
He recalled that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC), the state oil company, was earlier inducted into the Hall of Shame in
July 2017, followed by the Petroleum Equalisation Fund in March 2018 and the
Ministry of Petroleum Resources in June 2018, saying “It is a matter of concern
that despite these revelations about the opaque practices of these
institutions, no significant steps have been taken to make them open up or
comply with their statutory obligations.”
Mr. Sulaimon said: “Clearly, despite the attention drawn to
the unlawful actions of its sister public institutions in the oil and gas
sector over the last year, the DPR is undaunted in pursuing a path of secrecy
and shielding its activities and operations from public scrutiny.”
According to him, “It is repugnant to imagine that a public
institution with such a culture of disrespect and disobedience of an existing
Law has the responsibility of ensuring compliance with petroleum laws,
regulations and guidelines in the Oil and Gas Industry even while it is
persisting in its failure to comply with the Law.”
Mr. Sulaimon explained that the DPR was assessed on its
level of compliance with various obligations of public institutions under the
FOI Act including: the submission of annual implementation reports, the
proactive publication of certain categories of information, the training of the
institution’s staff on the public’s right of access to information, the
designation of an FOI Desk Officer and publication of contact details of such
an official as well as responsiveness to requests for information from members
of the public.
He said the DPR failed in all the indicators.
He noted that: “since 2011 when the Act was passed into Law
until now, the DPR ought to have submitted seven annual reports to the
Attorney-General of the Federation on its implementation of the Act, but the
institution has not submitted a single report over the period, thereby
repeatedly breaching the provisions of Section 29 of the Act.”
Mr. Sulaimon said there was no indication that the DPR has
ever granted any request for information, attributing the problem of
ascertaining this precisely to the institution’s failure to submit its annual
report to the Attorney-General of the Federation, which would have provided the
requisite information about a series of facts and figures relevant to the its
implementation of the Act.
According to him, “As a direct result of DPR’s failure to
submit its annual implementation reports to the Attorney-General of the
Federation, we are unable to determine the number of applications for
information that it received and number of such applications that it processed.
We also do not know how many requests for information the DPR has granted or
denied over the years or if at all, the institution has ever at least received
and/or acknowledged any request from members of the public”
In addition, Mr. Sulaimon said, the DPR has not fulfilled
its proactive disclosure obligations under Section 2 of the Act as it has not
published on its websites or anywhere else, the 16 categories of information
that it is required by the FOI Act to publish and disseminate widely to members
of the public through various means, including print, electronic and online
sources.
He alleged that the DPR has also failed to comply with
Section 13 of the FOI Act, which requires every public institution to ensure
the provision of appropriate training for its officials on the public’s right
of access to information and records held by the government or public
institution for the effective implementation of the Act.
Citing the Database of FOI Desk Officers compiled by the
Federal Ministry of Justice, the oversight institution for the implementation
of the FOI Act, Mr. Sulaimon said the DPR had not designated any official to
whom requests for information should be made and has not published the name of
any such official as required by Section 2(3)(f) of the Act and despite
repeated requests and reminders issued by the Office of the Attorney-General of
the Federation to all public institutions to immediately designate such
officials and submit their details to the Office for inclusion in the Database.
He therefore called on Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to
take urgent measures to ensure that the DPR and other public institutions in
the oil and gas sector comply with their duties and obligations under the FOI
Act and as part of the efforts of the Federal government to rid the sector of
its plaguing corruption.
The FOI Hall of Shame is an initiative of MRA, launched in
July 2017, to name and shame public institutions or officials that are
undermining the effectiveness of the FOI Act.
Ayo Midele/GEE
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