NPAN seeks domestication of freedom of information act

By HENRY UMORU
The Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria, NPAN, said, yesterday, that if the passed Freedom of Information, FOI, Act  must be effective, there was the need for all the thirty-six states of the country to as a matter of urgency, commence its domestication.
NPAN also called on President Goodluck Jonathan to begin the process of reconciliation as he settles down, saying it will help ensure peace and security in the country. It added that  Jonathan should reach out to the opposition as was the case when President Barrack Obama reached out to the current Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, even as the body stressed that the  president must appoint the right people as members of his cabinet.
Speaking yesterday at the second day of the 2-day retreat for the president, governors and National Assembly members–elect, the NPAN  president and Publisher of THISDAY Newspapers, Nduka Obaigbena, explained that the Freedom of Information Act, signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan on May 28, would become more effective, efficient as well as enhance transparency and reduce corruption to its barest level if state governments key into it and implement it.
Obaigbena, who spoke on the topic, “Role of Media in National Transformation”, said “the signing of the Freedom of Information Bill to law has dramatically change the face of information management in Nigeria and therefore requires the states of the federation to follow suit to ensure its effectiveness and efficiency.”
The NPAN president, who described the signing into law of the Freedom of Information Bill as the most singular action since the colonial independent Nigeria in the management of information, said, however, that media management has, in recent times, changed the world in the face of Face Book, Twitter and citizens’ democracy.
(Vanguard)