FOI: court has ordered NPC to disclose all expenditure related to the cancelled census.
Within seven days, Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja has directed the National Population Commission (NPC) to disclose to Opatola Victor, a lawyer based in Abuja, the specifics of the funds allocated for the cancelled 2023 Population Census.
When Justice Ekwo handed down his ruling in a case against the Population Commission, he made the order.
The court found the NPC’s March 30, 2023, failure to comply with the lawyer’s request for information regarding the cancelled census to be unlawful, unjust, and contrary to the constitution.
Invoking Section 4 of the Freedom of Information Act, Justice Ekwo determined that the plaintiff’s right to access information was severely violated when the commission refused to give information about the companies that had prepared the due diligence report for the technology that was to be used in the disastrous census.
But the court said no to the plaintiff’s plea for N500,000 in the lawsuit.
The judge’s ruling included a mandamus order requiring the National Population Census (NPC), its employees, agents, and privies to provide the attorney with thorough and detailed information regarding the Quality Test Assurance Report for the technology and devices that will be used for the rescheduled 2023 census.
According to Justice Ekwo, the defendant’s argument that the plaintiff was denied access to the requested information due to bureaucracy and the fact that its executive chairman was not present at the time was implausible.
Based on the judge’s interpretation of classified information, there was nothing secret about the population census, hence the NPC’s argument that the records were withheld because they were classified was also rejected.
Additionally, Justice Ekwo ruled that the commission’s claim that the plaintiff’s requested record was already in the public domain was untenable, since the plaintiff’s request was on file with the NPC and not with the public domain record.
As a violation of his rights under Section 4 of the FOI Act 2012, the lawyer had asked the court to issue an order compelling the population commission to make available to him, among other things, the record of spending on the failed population census.
He has asked the court to issue a mandamus order for the population commission to comply with the Freedom of Information Act and provide him with the records he requested regarding the cancelled 2023 census.