The Freedom of Information Act 2011: an unwieldy piece of legislation for the Nigerian courts?

Nigeria joined the trend present in other democratic nations by enacting the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in 2011. Now just five years old, the law intends to promote openness and transparency by making public records and information freely available to the people as part of a good governance regime. As the law provides for judicial review, torrents of applications are now before the courts. The paper analyses the FOIA against the backdrop of these decisions. In addition, this article argues that some sections of the law are clumsy and may prevent its effective use. The paper proposes law reforms to clear the ambiguity in the court cases and an amendment of the unwieldy sections. It recommends change in the internal culture of government to openness, acceptance by public institutions and willingness on the part of the judges to implement it as critical factors for FIOA success.