By Correspondent in Abuja
The Federal High Court in Abuja has fined the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) the sum of N500,000 for refusing to provide information requested by a lawyer, Festus Onifade, in line with the provisions of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, 2011.
Justice Gladys Olotu, in a judgment, ruled that the company’s refusal to release the requested information to Onifade and his co-applicant, the Coalition of Nigeria Consumers, was wrongful, unlawful, and unconstitutional.
Delivering judgment in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/244/2023, Justice Olotu held that the AEDC is a public institution within the meaning of Section 2(7) of the FOI Act and therefore bound by its provisions.
The court also ordered the company to release the requested information — contained in a letter dated January 18, 2023 — within seven days of the judgment.
The applicants, Onifade (suing for himself and on behalf of the Coalition of Nigeria Consumers), had filed the motion on notice on February 22, 2023, citing Sections 1, 2, 5, 7, and 20 of the FOI Act, among other laws.
They sought four reliefs, including declarations that AEDC’s refusal to provide the requested information was unlawful and that, as a public institution, it was obligated to comply with the FOI Act.
However, in a counter-affidavit dated May 24, 2024, AEDC denied breaching the FOI Act, claiming it had not refused the request but merely acted within the limits of the law. The company argued that the applicant failed to collect the requested information and that it was not AEDC’s duty to “fetch whatever information demanded for and take it cap in hand to the location of the applicant.”
Rejecting this defence, Justice Olotu held that AEDC, by virtue of its 40% Federal Government ownership and public utility status, falls squarely within the scope of a public institution as defined by the FOI Act.
She noted that while the applicants did not attach documentary evidence proving the Federal Government’s stake in the company, such facts were “notorious in the public domain” and therefore judicially noticeable.
Accordingly, the court resolved all issues in favour of Onifade and the Coalition of Nigeria Consumers, ruling that AEDC is under a legal duty to release the requested information in line with the FOI Act and Section 76(12) of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act.
Justice Olotu consequently ordered AEDC to pay N500,000 as costs to the applicants.
“The court specifically said AEDC should comply with the order within seven days. As it stands now, they are in contempt of the court judgment,” he said.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
