Justice Ibrahim Ahmad Kala of the Federal High Court in Lagos has directed the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to reveal how much it made from tollgates and parking lots fees in all Federal Government-owned airports and how much it remitted from January 2015 until January 2024.
The judge specifically gave an order compelling the FAAN (the sole Respondent) to make available details of the revenue to The Registered Trustees of The Centre for Law & Civil Culture (the plaintiff).
Justice Kala consequently mandated the FAAN to comply with the order within three months.
It is instructive to note that The Registered Trustees of The Centre for Law & Civil Culture had instituted the legal action in a suit marked FHC/L/CS/1086/2022.
The suit was sequel to FAAN’s failure to accede to its Freedom of Information (FOI) request of August 24, 2022, declaring that it violated the FOI Act, 2011.
Delivering judgment in the matter, Justice Kala, who granted the applicant’s prayer, noted that it had satisfied all the conditions stipulated in Section 20 of the FoI Act.
The judge then said, “I shall, therefore, reach the irresistible conclusion that the lone issue for determination, in this case, is whether the respondent is mandated to provide the requested information to the applicant as provided for under the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 and the applicant entitled to the reliefs sought in their Originating Application, is resolved against the respondent and in favour of the applicant.
“The applicant’s application succeeds, and it is accordingly granted as follows:
“It is hereby declared that the refusal and failure of the respondents to accede to the applicant’s Freedom of Information requests dated 24/8/2021, 6/10/2021 and 22/4/2022, requesting to know the total annual generated revenue from the toll-gates and parking lots in each of the Federal Government owned Airports across the Federal Republic of Nigeria since 2015 until date is a gross violation of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011.
“An order of mandamus is, hereby, granted compelling the respondent to avail the applicant with the details of the statement of the accounts showing the total annual generated revenue from the toll-gates and parking lots in each of the Federal Government Airports across the Federal Republic of Nigeria and evidence of yearly remittance of such sum so generated per year from January 2015 to January 2024 within a period of three months from today.”
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