In view of the passage of the Freedom of Information bill, what is going to happen to privacy? Where exactly does one draw the line between documents that affect only one individual and documents that affect a large number of people? Will the word “privacy” even mean anything any longer?
Now that Nigerians have the right to go to any public or private office whatsoever to request information such as the amount of money to be used to carry out a project, when it should be completed, who the contractor is etc. What measures are or will be taken to ensure that such information is not used by miscreants to carry out criminal activities? Does Nigeria have a tight enough security to protect its citizens now that vital information is available to the public? Does the bill allow Nigerians to demand for public servants to declare their assets before, during and after their tenures?
Since most of Nigeria’s records are not digitized, can fraud and illegal adjustment of documents be detected? Is Nigeria really ready for the Bill of Information? Will it do more harm than good to our country? What do you think?
Bill of Information being signed into law is a welcome development in Nigeria, but however, proper caution should be exercised in application of same. That is to say, that it should not be used to victimize, vindicate or cause aspersions to individual (s) to whom such investigation is being made for. It is therefore suggested that Nigerian Government should borrow similar Legislation from the UK on the laws regulating Privacy vis-a-vis data protection. In the UK for instance, data protection has it that information obtained for a particular purpose cannot be used for another purpose neither can it be transferred to another department that did not seek for such information. I congratulate our able president for singing such bills into law as it would go a long way to minimize forgery, falsification of documents and other related criminal offenses in our country. I urge the media and the general public not to abuse this right.
Freedom of Information being signed into law is a welcome development in Nigeria, but however, proper caution should be exercised in application of same. That is to say, that it should not be used to victimize, vindicate or cause aspersions to individual (s) to whom such investigation is being made for. It is therefore suggested that Nigerian Government should borrow similar Legislation from the UK on the laws regulating Privacy vis-a-vis data protection. In the UK for instance, data protection has it that information obtained for a particular purpose cannot be used for another purpose neither can it be transferred to another department that did not seek for such information. I congratulate our able president for singing such bills into law as it would go a long way to minimize forgery, falsification of documents and other related criminal offenses in our country. I urge the media and the general public not to abuse this right.
Freedom of Information Bill being signed into law is a welcome development in Nigeria, but however, proper caution should be exercised in application of same. That is to say, that it should not be used to victimize, vindicate or cause aspersions to individual (s) to whom such investigation is being made for. It is therefore suggested that Nigerian Government should borrow similar Legislation from the UK on the laws regulating Privacy vis-a-vis data protection. In the UK for instance, data protection has it that information obtained for a particular purpose cannot be used for another purpose neither can it be transferred to another department that did not seek for such information. I congratulate our able president for singing such bills into law as it would go a long way to minimize forgery, falsification of documents and other related criminal offenses in our country. I urge the media and the general public not to abuse this right.