A paper that grasp the scope of privacy capture of right to information. The paper identifies the citizen as the master while public officers are the servants

1. The impact of Section 37 of the
Constitution of Nigeria 1999 on Access to
information of Public Officers
A paper presented at Southwestern Law School, Los Angeles on
the occasion of 250 years of Sweden FOIA and 50 year FOIA of
USA
By
President Aigbokhan
Partner
Lex Entrepreneur
Nigeria
kpresident@yahoo.com
234 8032 68 3434

2. APPRECIATION
• I want to thank Prof. David Goldberg for bringing to my
attention the call for papers for this Conference.
• I want to specially appreciate Prof. Michael Epstein for
accepting my paper from abstract to full work up to
presentation
• I would have been physically present if not for
immigration barriers by the US Embassy in Nigeria.
• I was disqualified for lack of travel experience and they
price the US as too expensive to start with.
• I thank you all that have put one or two things together
for the success of the this Conference

3. INTRODUCTION
• Nigeriaisthe5th
Nation with FOIA. Thelaw waspassed in 2011. ordinarily
with thecoming of thelaw, silencethat greetsgovernanceshould beon
prematurevacation but thestory isreversewith young peoplewho forms
thebulk of governancebasket relish in English Premier Leaguefixtures
than how they aregoverned.
• Themaster in my themeistheCITIZEN but they aretoo busy with
frivolitiesthat they not know what timeit is.
• Theservantsarepublic officersand theGovernment they servein and the
master remainstheinterest that thepublic projects
• Information isowned by thosewho cast their votesand not thosewho
count thevotesor arecounted for. A mal-functional control of information
dissemination I public administration murdersdemocracy not clinically.
Thisaccountsfor why indicesof good governancearelow for countries
that frozepublic information or lift freedom of information to thelap of the
court

4. IMPACT OF PRIVACY ON RIGHT
TO INFORMATION
• It powersservantsto carry on likemasters
• It clashestheidealsof both conventional and global
modeof public administration
• PRIVACY turnsgovernanceagainst itspeople
• It devaluessovereignty
• It re-awakenstheneed for technological intervention
in administration

5. INDEPENDENT CONDITIONS
THAT OUTWEIGHS PRIVACY
A. Oath of office
It is a citation of commitment, a notion of loyalty and influence of trust. The problem with oath of office is poor absorption of wordings of the oath. The ethical standard
required by official oath taking ritual is the maintenance of high standards of honesty and public trust so as to secure confidence and citizens respect for its government.
Any public officer that oath of office is administered on is under a contract agreement to make necessary information public. That is being accountable to overwhelming
public
A Public officer that has taken oath of office forecloses privacy for the promotion of healthy public administration
B. PUBLIC SPENDING SPACE
A. In Nigeria, the Federal Government holds the position of a trustee in respect of all monies paid into the Federation Account on behalf of the states from which the revenue
was generated. Thus, it is the duty of a trustee to keep a proper account of the trust he administers and the beneficiary has a right to call upon the trustee for accurate
information as to the state of the trust. This is the bane of regional agitators in Nigeria
Public spending space is the grave yard for privacy because it is a luxury at public expense that deserves the observation of citizens. For instance the budget of a
Governor for a sub nation for fuelling vehicle is N25 Million Niara, a governor has 6 bullet proof cars worth N100 Million Naira each, 25 Prado Toyota Jeeps worth 25
Million each, 6 Skido bikes worth N15 Million each, and the budget of the wife of the governor self styles first lady office is entitled to N2 Billion Annually.
51 % of the total country’s revenue is spent on loan servicing secured by public officers, so those in spending spaces should not be spared of the quest of citizens control
of their government
.
A. CORRUPTION
B. In representative democracy the Citizens are at the mercy of elected representatives. In Nigeria, the representative exclude the citizens and at the same time weaken their
won ability to functionally produce developments.
The call for greater access to information of public officers is understandable and prudent response to the increasing risk of corruption. There is corruption in all areas of
government in Nigeria including the judiciary. Nigeria is the most accident prone nation in the world and this is accounted for by bad roads owing to corruption. In Nigeria
there is no security of any kind and yet there is slush of cash kept aside to pay ghost workers.
An allegation of corruption is a matter of public interest and it is sufficient to compel disclosure
The greatest evidence that public ingress into government privacy has a measurable anti-corruption impact can be seen in the progress assessment of the developed and
developing nations. In Nigeria the closest practical word to corruption is victimization. Every home detest loss arising from corruption but do not support Government to
punish their sons and daughters. This is where technology will help. The anti graft agencies have really introduced fear and honesty in governance but this has not brought
noteworthy or physical dividend. The money repatriated by foreign counties have been gathered and repatriated back under different heading.

6. GRATIA
– By the complexity of civic sphere the citizens sway over administrative
decision and the management of public affairs cannot be effective
unless deliberate effort is made to compel disclosure of pertinent
information in a technologically enabled format
– GRATIA is a communication service technology that is central in the
rolling of public participation that any democratic setting works towards
– By GRATIA, the citizens can raise concern about illegal accumulation of
wealth by a public officer
– GRATIA is a plumb line that fills the hole of corruption in Nigeria
governance space.
– While transparency and accountability are touted as prime motivators
for freedom of information, the space for entrepreneur and innovation is
also clearly cut out
– The primary aim of GRATIA is to enroll the people in the fight against
corruption and abuse of office. The dagger of sovereignty lies in GRTIA
abut it is sharp and requires no special skill to operate.

7. CONCLUSION
• It is expected that since the servants have given birth to FOIA, the growth in the usage can
retune power back to the original owner.
• Take away Government’s reserve of information, take away government discretion of when and
what to release, then I will show you a bulwark of uncensored transparency and accountability
• Technology is the heart of FOI sovereignty and its deployment to challenge fiscal recklessness is
the future of FOIA
• FOIA in the present, past and future can only succeed in this generational bracket with the aid of
technology. This is the future which I have identified in my paper is now.
• No doubt FOIA is a merchant ship that brings food from afar. It is a muscle for hire not
harassment but with the mandate to shape the democratic space to a casino with many hands
participating in he spinning. The interest that the public projects under the Act bear the furnace of
fire that shines bright in the darkest of governance. It is red hot to melt away public information
stored up in the locked up drawers
• It is bizarre that the information stored in the custody of servants are fought over to access. The
will of the people will not be supreme when they have no information. The electorate cannot
speak let alone aloud when he/she has not heard. Information that s wanting cannot be counted
• . For Nigeria to occupy a space in the global stage of access to information in the future which is
now, efforts must be put in place to further develop GRATIA. I urge the audience to assist to
making sure that this APP does not end in academic papers. This application is one of the
practical ways to promote the life span of sovereignty
• The past is gone, the present is here and the eclipse of the future covers now. But before we
dream of the future of FOIA, we must wake up to the reality that there is never any government
ownership of information, it is only then we wake up in some sort of governance of paradise.