ASSESSMENT OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2011 AS A TOOL FOR PUBLIC RIGHT ON ACCESS TO INFORMATION IN NIGERIA

Freedom of Information is very important to every nation and this right should not be negotiated for anything. Furtherance to this, many countries of the world have enacted various laws or sections of laws into their Constitution to enable citizens have access to information which was not always available prior to the freedom of information laws, Nigeria after several years of agitation to douse the power of secrecy given by the Official Secrets Act and some other laws of secrecy that evaded the government enacted the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 via the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. Inspite of the enactment of this law the researcher has observed that the purpose of the enactment of the FOI Act is still under use. A lot of Nigerians are still in the dark and still believe in the power of secrecy accorded to government institutions by other available laws. To this end, the researcher of this work aims at assessing public rights of access to information through the tool of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011; create awareness to promoting effective implementation of the Act; show the public institutions its duties to implement the use of the Act and to further assist Nigerians know how to utilize the provisions of the Act. This research also made recommendations such as; strong and efficient data managements by public institutions, creating awareness through trainings to the public institutions and the public, incorporating the FOI Act into school’s curriculum and the dire need of amending the FOI Act for quality access to information.