The Freedom of Information Act in Nigeria was enacted in May 28, 2011. The Act aims to make public records and information more freely available, provide for public access to public records and information, protect public records and information to the extent consistent with the public interest and the protection of personal privacy, protect serving public officers from adverse consequences for disclosing certain kinds of official information without authorization and establish procedures for the achievement of those purposes.
The underlying philosophy of Freedom of Information is that public servants are custodians of a public trust on behalf of a population who have a right to know what they do. In particular, the FOIA promises to remove the aura of mystery and exclusion with which public servants cloak the ordinary operations of government and public institutions. It also seeks to change the manner in which public records and information are managed.
The Act builds on the presumption of openness, by placing on those who wish to keep public information away from the people, the onus of justifying why they have to do so.
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is an Act that gives a person, group, association or organization the right to access information from Government Agencies, Parastatals, Federal Civil Service, Private and Public sector organizations providing public services, etc.
Any person, group, association, organization, etc. can make a request for information under the FOIA. The request must be in writing with a clear description of the information being sought, and in compliance with specific institutional requirements.
At African Youth Leadeship and Democratic Centre, we are more concern and committed to support open governance in achieving youth inclusion in OGP. We work to bridge the gap of lack of youth participation, to strength trust between youth and government by helping young people with access to information regarding budget and financial expenditure that affect youth. we have engage and provided over 1000 copies of FOI guildline for youth to engage with public instituiton in their state. we work to support government to build resilence in democratic system by ensuring young people are part of the decision making processes in governence.
Author
Emmanuel Bature
Executive Director
African Youth Leadership and Democratic Centre.

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Youth participation in access to information