A Model Empirical Study of the Current State of Governmental Provision of Free Access to Nigerian Public Legal Information (Volume 4) eBook and Book (Paperback)

A Model Empirical Study of the Current State of Governmental Provision of Free Access to Nigerian Public Legal Information

By Dr. Leesi Ebenezer Mitee, PhD in international human rights law, legal information technology (legal informatics), indigenous customary law and indigenous rights

ISBN 9789083108551 (eBook)

ISBN 9789083108537 (Paperback)

Publisher: Koinonia Legal Research and Book Publishing, Tilburg, The Netherlands

This book, A Model Empirical Study of the Current State of Governmental Provision of Free Access to Nigerian Public Legal Information (Volume 4 of the Human Right of Free Access to Public Legal Information Book Series), uses the empirical legal methodology to assess the current state of free access to Nigerian public legal information (that is, the primary sources of Nigerian law, e.g. legislation and case law or judicial decisions) on the World Wide Web, provided by the Nigerian federal government and Nigeria’s thirty-six state governments.

It presents a historical perspective of the publication of laws in Nigeria (the seventh most populous country in the world and one of Africa’s leading economies) and examines the adequacy of its legal framework for free access to public legal information in this information and communications technology (ICT) age.

The book reveals that neither the Nigerian federal government nor any of its thirty-six States has any official online public legal information database and that the prevalent practice by all these governments is the publication of print legal information as a revenue-generating business. It further finds that non-state actors provide access to a majority of the available free online legal information resources, but their resources are grossly inadequate because they are neither up-to-date, comprehensive, nor accurate reproductions.

The book argues that the lack of political will to actualise the basic tenets of democracy (especially, transparency, the rule of law, and public participation in governance) is the preeminent factor responsible for the extremely poor state of free access to Nigerian public legal information. It concludes that the starting point towards the provision of adequate free access to Nigerian public legal information is the abrogation of copyright in the texts of all government works, which include all categories of Nigerian laws, by amending section 4 of the Nigerian Copyright Act 1988 to reverse its imposition of copyright in government-held information. This will introduce the necessary paradigm shift towards the realisation that governments merely hold public information in trust for the people who are its actual owners and, therefore, have the right of free access to their own information.

Additionally, the book concludes that the enactment of appropriate legislation that clearly imposes, and adequately defines, the legal duty of the federal, state, and local governments to develop and maintain their comprehensive and up-to-date official public legal information online databases with free access is indispensable to the provision of adequate free access to all categories of Nigerian laws.

The book is relevant to all those involved in issues relating to access to justice, international human rights law, indigenous rights, human rights advocacy, political science, public administration, the administration of justice, and law reform.

Keywords: Free access to Nigerian public legal information (laws), Human right of free access to public legal information, Nigerian Copyright Act 1988, Nigerian legislation, Nigerian case law (judicial decisions or judgments), Nigerian customary law