A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to pay N1 million in damages to Media Rights Agenda (MRA) for wrongfully denying the organisation access to information. The court also ordered the apex bank to provide the organisation with all the information it requested under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act in a letter dated May 22, 2020, regarding the bank's data protection policies and practices.
A press statement signed by MRA’s Communications Officer, Idowu Adewale, on Wednesday said the organisation had filed a suit on June 15, 2020, through its lawyer, Mr. Darlington Onyekwere, challenging the CBN’s refusal to disclose the information it requested and asking the Court to compel the bank and its governor to make the information available.
According to the statement, MRA on May 22, 2020, wrote a letter to the bank in which it asked, among other things, for copies of all the CBN’s data protection policies issued in conformity with the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), 2019; the name and contact details of the CBN’s Data Protection Officer, designated in accordance with the NDPR; and its relevant data privacy instruments and data protection directives.
MRA had also asked for details of all capacity-building training or other capacity-building activities undertaken for the Data Protection Officer and other CBN personnel involved in any form of data processing since the issuance of the NDPR; the number of persons or individuals whose personal data it processes on an annual basis; and a report from a detailed audit it conducted of its privacy and data protection practices in accordance with the NDPR.
Delivering judgment in the suit instituted by MRA against the CBN, the CBN Governor, and the Attorney General of the Federation, Justice Donatus Uwaezuoke Okorowo held that the failure of the CBN to disclose or make available to MRA the information requested by the organization in the letter amounts to a violation of its right of access to information established and guaranteed by Sections 1(1) and 4 of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 and also constituted a wrongful denial of access to information under Section 7(5) of the Act.
In his judgment, Justice Okorowo agreed with MRA that the failure of the CBN to give a written notice to the organisation that access to all or part of the information requested would not be granted, as well as its failure to state the reasons for its denial of access and the section of the FOI Act under which the denial was made, amounted to a violation of Section 4(b) of the Act.
Accordingly, the judge issued an order compelling the CBN to make all the information requested by MRA available to it. He also ruled that MRA was entitled to damages for the unlawful violation of its right of access to information and granted the organisation’s claim of N1 million as damages.
The judge, however, refused MRA’s request for an order directing the Attorney-General of the Federation to initiate criminal proceedings against the CBN for the offense of wrongful denial of access to information under Section 7(5) of the FOI Act.
Media Rights Agenda (MRA) is an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation for the purpose of promoting and protecting the right to freedom of expression, media freedom, access to information as well as digital rights and freedoms.