The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), through its Human Rights Institute, has strengthened the capacity of its staff on the right to access information as a fundamental human right and enabler of other rights.
The one-day training on the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 held at the Commission's headquarters, focused on enhancing knowledge on access to information, civic participation and democratic accountability.
The Commission noted that despite the enactment of the FOI Act over a decade ago, persistent challenges including poor compliance, weak record management, lack of proactive disclosure and poor response to information requests continue to undermine citizens' right to know.
The capacity-building programme, anchored on a human rights-based approach, seeks to address these gaps and enhance institutional capacity to promote transparency, participation and accountability as core human rights principles.
The Commission emphasized that access to information is key to effectively delivering on its mandate of promoting, protecting and enforcing human rights in Nigeria, as it empowers rights-holders to claim their rights and holds duty-bearers accountable.
In alignment with the upcoming 2027 General Elections, the initiative aims to institutionalize practical use of the FOI Act to drive democratic accountability, combat misinformation, enhance civic participation and ensure an open civic space where citizens can make informed choices.
The training covered the provisions of the Act, its exceptions and disclosure obligations, with practical exercises on how staff can deploy FOI requests in their daily work to advance human rights protection, support investigations and strengthen evidence-based advocacy.
Participants expressed commitment to apply the knowledge to promote transparency and ensure citizens' right to information is respected, protected and fulfilled.
