How To Test FOIA In Nigeria: GOCOP, Other Online Publishers Receive Practical Lessons

Members of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers, GOCOP and others were among participants at a one-day training programme on Freedom of Information Act, FOIA Thursday in Abuja.

The workshop which included a practical guide on drafting FOIA requests was loaded with resource materials aimed at building the capacity of online Publishers on the application the Act

The training programme supported by the European Union, EU and British Council was anchored by Dr Walter Duru, an anti-corruption activists.

Among the speakers included Pwanakei Dala, Programme Officer of RoLAC as well as Mr. Emmanuel Uche.They spoke on the significance of the training which is to ensure further testing and effective use the of the FOIA.

The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami was represented by Mr.Gowon Ichibor, the FOI desk officer in the Ministry.

Ichibor also made very brilliant presentations on Exemptions and Proactive Disclosure under FOIA, drawing rousing applause from the participants.

Duru presented papers including an overview of the Act as well as the Role of Civil Society on FOIA.

The roundtable ended with a practical session on drafting FOI requests by the participants.
-NewsDiary