The Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) has failed to honour a Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request submitted to its office by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) on March 22.

When FIJ first visited the agency’s Lagos Zonal Headquarters office on March 21, our reporter was directed to a general office. An official of the agency then scanned through the request and said, “You can’t get this. Nobody will give it to you.”

This statement directly negates the objective of the FOI Act.

Afterwards, she was directed to the office of the zonal headquarters. In the office, which had three office tables carrying loads of paperwork and computers, there was a black, low couch close to the brown wooden door and two men sitting at their desks.

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One of them, fair-complexioned, took the FOI request and said, “Who do you want to give this to?”

“The postmaster general,” said our reporter.

He glanced at it again and passed it to the other man in the office. This man was older and passed the letter back without a word.

The fair-complexioned man asked again, “Who do you want to address this to?”

“The postmaster general,” the reporter responded.

“Well, that is not even possible because the address you have here is for three different offices. It doesn’t exist. There are three addresses in one. One is for our Abuja office, another for our office in Ikeja and the last one is for this office.”

“We got this address from NIPOST’s website,” said the reporter.

“Yes, there is nobody with the designation you have on this letter.”

After several minutes of back and forth with some staff members entering and exiting the office, he penned down three different addresses in a note and handed it to the reporter.

“You will have to either send your FOI request to Abuja because we can’t provide your request; only the postmaster general can, or you make another request that the zonal officer can attend to. This must be addressed to his office.”

When she returned to NIPOST’s office in Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Ikeja, with a new FOI request now addressed to the zonal officer the following day, March 22, the fair-complexioned man was absent from his seat, and in his stead was a dark-complexioned young man.

This time, the letter was perused with a smirk by Yinka Ajayi, the senior secretary. She had first asked if our reporter had come to pick up a letter. When she responded in the negative, she ran her eyes through her frame, returned her gaze to the letter and wrote, “Yinka Ajayi, Received. 22-03-24.”

As soon as she stepped out of her office, our reporter realised her received copy was missing Ajayi’s signature and designation. She returned to her office to ask for it, and she motioned to the young man occupying the seat of the man who wrote the addresses the previous day to sign on it.

He wrote her designation while she signed. As soon as the reporter stepped out the second time, Ajayi hollered her name and requested her signature on the organisation’s copy. She signed, and Ajayi said, “We will take it to Abuja.”

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THE FOI ACT

The FOI Act was signed into law on May 28, 2011, by former president Goodluck Jonathan. One of its major objectives is to make public records and information freely accessible to the public and enable the public to access public records and information.

The FOI Act mandates that public institutions and private organisations handling public matters set up FOI desks with an officer to receive and give information to members of the public.

The same act also stipulates that public institutions provide the required information within seven days of receiving the request or ask for an extension if they are unable to meet the demand within the timeframe.

In 2013, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), while she served in the House of Representatives, accused the Nigerian media of under-utilising the FOI Act.

FIJ understands that many public institutions are reluctant to honour FOI requests, despite its enactment 13 years ago.