The Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), and Nigeria Extractive Transparency Initiative (NEITI), have emerged as the most compliant agencies in terms of Freedom of Information (FoI) and transparency ranking.
The organisations were announced winners by the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), at the launch of the 2022 FoI Compliance Ranking in Abuja.
The Debt Management Office (DMO), came third on the ranking.
The Chief Executive Officer of PPDC, Jubril Shittu, disclosed that the BPSR and NEITI came top because they proactively disclosed requested information on their portals.
Shittu said the PPDC had been consistently advocating the disclosure of public finance expenditure information.
This, he said, is to promote a more transparent and accountable government as well as increase citizens’ participation, thereby leading to improved public service delivery.
Shittu said the rankings were to commemorate the International Right to Know Day and to ascertain the compliance of public institutions to the FoI Act (2011) based on the disclosure of public finance expenditure information.
“Today is globally known as the Access to Information Day, and all over the world various people are celebrating access to information.
“So what we are doing here today, along with our cohort partners is to look at what the Nigerian experience is and we have been doing this for the past 10 years.
“You know, since the passage of the FoI Act in 2011, which opened up the space for the public to ask for information from the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and this ranking exercise looks at their level of responsiveness,” Shittu said.
He also said the ranking looked at the pro-activeness of the disclosures on information from these MDAs, as well as being biased in terms of the disclosure whether disclosed in full or in partial terms.
“This year, we ranked 250 institutions and as you are aware, there are 700 MDAs in government. This just shows that we have quite a lot to catch up on.
“We should also be recognised in terms of the efforts for various MDAs, we’ve reached a level of increase from the previous years,” he said.
In his keynote address, the Minister for State, Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, said the Federal Government is making necessary efforts to ensure the data of Nigerians were protected.
This year, we ranked 250 institutions and as you are aware, there are 700 MDAs in government. This just shows that we have quite a lot to catch up on.
Agba, represented by the Deputy Director, Agriculture and Rural Development, Mrs Oluyide Adesola, said the Federal Government has taken cognisance of emerging data protection laws and regulations.
He said: “This was geared towards protecting privacy, identity, lives and property, as well as fostering the integrity of commerce and industry in the data and digital economy, and fostering the integrity of commerce and industry in the data and digital economy.
“We have realised the importance of developing data protection rules and regulations to protect the personal data of citizens.
“It is in view of this that the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) 2019 was passed, and it is the pioneer and comprehensive regulation on data protection in Nigeria,” Agba said.
Others in the ranking were the National Orientation Agency (NOA), which came fourth, while the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), came fifth.
Others are Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (CRC), came sixth, and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), clinched the seventh position.
Similarly, the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), came eighth, while the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), came 10th. (NAN)
