By Samuel Oyejola
The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) have been ranked as the most Freedom of Information compliance of all public institutions in Nigeria.
This was made known at the launch of the 6th Freedom of Information Act Compliance ranking organised by Public and Private Development Center (PPDC) in Abuja recently.
The ranking according to PPDC focuses on transparency and open government operations.
PPDC said the ranking was based on assessment of levels of access to procurement related information from 187 public institutions. It was based on procurement plans, procurement processes and capital expenditure.
The ranking according to the organization is to encourage government and promote transparency and accountability in government operations.
The CAC and ICRC top the ranking in proactive disclosure of information on the platform of the FOI, response to information enquiries between 8 and 14 days and full level of disclosure.
In the 2018 ranking, Nigerian Extractive industries Transparency (NEITI) ranked third, while Librarian Registration Council of Nigeria ranked fourth.
The group also ranked Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), State House, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and the Ecological Fund Office as some of the least compliance ranking organization of the 187 public institutions ranked.
The public institutions were ranked based on benchmarks for disclosure within the Nigerian Freedom of Information Act 2011.
The ranking according to the group is to liberate procurement information and make coherent possible in a way that enables more efficient public service delivery.
At the event, the Open State Government Rankings was also unveiled. The ranking is aimed at encouraging sub-nationals to open up their systems to enable citizens’ participation in governance activities.
Kaduna state topped the rank while Ebonyi, Kano, Edo Enugu and Abia states all tied at the second position. Zamfara, Gombe and Borno are the least on the ranking.
The open government ranking focuses on Open government partnership, open budget and open contracting.