The government, through its Attorney-General, Mr. Ade Ipaye, who is the second defendant in the suit, therefore said it could not grant a request for information made on the strength of the law.
The government’s counter-affidavit was deposed to by Toluwanimi Odupitan, a lawyer in the Civil Litigation Department of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice.
Among other demands, the group wants the court to compel the defendants to release to it information relating to how the government spent the $90m loan allegedly obtained from the World Bank to improve education in the state’s public secondary schools.
It also seeks an order of mandamus, compelling the governor “to rescind the suspension of anyone, including principals of any of the schools for blowing the whistle or allowing journalists to cover the decayed infrastructure across primary and secondary schools in Lagos State.”
The respondents argued that since the FoI Act was a federal legislation it was only applicable in relation to public records of government of the federation and not of the states.
The state government submitted that the power to make laws on public records had been concurrently shared between the National Assembly and the State House of Assembly in their respective sphere of jurisdiction.
It added that the FoI was not applicable to the records of states in the federation in so far the states had not enacted same as laws vide their respective Houses of Assembly.
The counter-affidavit reads, “The public records of Lagos State Government are generated and kept by various ministries, departments, agencies and personnel of the state government in execution of their functions and responsibility in the service of the state.
“Such state government agencies and personnel are statutorily created or regulated by laws of the state House of Assembly and the handling of public records has serious security implications which are routinely handled by rules established by the State Government.”
Source: Punch
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