The Director General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Mr. Dasuki Arabi has reaffirmed the bureau’s commitment in ensuring that the Freedom of Information Act is properly institutionalized within the public sector.
He made this known during the flag off of the FOIA training for the staff of the bureau on Wednesday, 9th September, 2020 in Abuja.
The training, themed “Understanding the Implementation of the Freedom of Information Act 2011”, was in collaboration with the Private Public Development Center (PDDC).
The DG noted that the FOIA is very crucial in entrenching transparency and openness in governance through improved compliance to annual report obligations of public institutions.
“For good governance and transparency to thrive, fundamental rights of access to information must be adhered to. That is why the FOIA was enacted to guide and improve compliance of public institutions with respect to proactive disclosure of mandatory publication requirements” he noted.
The bureau boss maintained that in order to empower citizen’s right to access information, the bureau has initiated a series of reform initiatives.
“Furtherance to our commitment to the FOIA, the bureau has in the past few years consistently maintained the topmost position in ranking MDAS score-cards for proactive disclosure of information to the public. This has prompted us to create platforms for citizen engagement and have collaborated with relevant stakeholders to design and deploy feedback mechanisms for application and response to FOIA request” he emphasized.
While urging the staff to partake fully in the training, the DG appreciated the Private Public Development Center (PDDC), for their gesture to promote citizen participation in governance for improved integrity in the public sector.
Aliyu Umar
Principal Information Officer
BPSR
