Media and law: an assessment of the effectiveness of the Freedom of Information Act by journalists in Nigeria using Auchi, Edo State as a case study

Abstract

This study interrogates journalists’ assessment of the effectiveness of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in Nigeria, particularly as it pertains to its implementation and successes in retrieving useful information from public institutions in Nigeria. Using the mixed research method, the article involves nine purposively selected journalists in Auchi, Edo State, Nigeria. Anchored on the social responsibility theory, the study discovers that journalists are aware of the FOIA, but it is not well implemented because of a lack of cooperation and the absence of proper documentation by the relevant government agencies. It also finds that the civil service is the most cooperative and the police least cooperative agencies of government. It, therefore, recommends that the FOIA should be reviewed to give journalists more legal power to be able to access more easily information for public good.