By Henry Uche
The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) has emerged first position at the 2021 National FOI Compliance & Transparency Ranking out of the 213 Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) that were assessed.
A statement signed yesterday by Daniel Awurum, Head Press & Protocol for NIPC revealed that the ranking was a proof that NIPC was the most consistent and improved MDA, moving up a whopping 89 places in 5 years.
According to the statement, the parameters for the ranking were proactive disclosure, responsiveness in the request for information, level of disclosure, FOI training and timeliness.
The announcement was made at the unveiling ceremony in Abuja, co-organised by six civil society organisations: The Basic Right Watch (BRW), BudgIT, and International Centre for Investigative Reporting, Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Public & Private Development Centre (PPDC) and Right to Know (R2K), who partnered to ensure a robust evaluation across agencies. The judges considered the existence of FOI Desk Officer, publication, submission of statutory annual FOIA compliance report amongst other criteria.
“NIPC consecutively took the second-best position in the last 2 years – 2020 and 2019, a considerable milestone from its previous ranking of 17th in 2018 and 75th in 2017. The efforts of Management at better governance, proactive compliance and transparency resulted in the materially improved ranking in the years leading from 2016 to 2021. It is particularly pleasing that this impressive ranking was achieved by an internal commitment to continuous improvement without the help of an external consultant.
“Since 2017, NIPC management and staff have worked diligently on the proactive disclosure of all required information. The Commission updated its website with a dedicated FOI section and trained all staff. Since mid-2017 to date, the Commission has proactively published information of its budgets and financial performance, companies listed under the NIPC Act, procurement, court cases, etc,” the statement affirmed.
It added that NIPC also proactively published information on pioneer status applications processed which has been updated every quarter and could be accessed at FOI section of NIPC’s website. “Management is delighted with the 2021 ranking and is committed to instilling a culture of compliance with all statutory obligations,” NIPC assured.