DATA PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION ON THE PERCEPTION OF FREEDOM OF INFORMAITON BILL BY JOURNALISTS IN BAYELSA STATE

DATA PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION

4.1     Introduction

          Data were generated using copies of the questionnaire as the instrument. A total of one hundred and fifty copies of the questionnaire were administered to respondents. After administering the instrument on the respondents, 148 copies were retrieved representing 99%. This response was considered adequate for the purpose of this study. Those who could not respond did so because of personal reasons.

4.2     Data Presentation and Analysis

          The questionnaire had two sections, A & B while section “A” was on the background information of respondents, section “B” sought responses from the respondents on the perception of freedom of information bill by journalists in Bayelsa State. The results are reflected here under.

Table 1: Distribution of Respondents by Age

Age range	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)
18-24	Nil	Nil
25-36	40	27
31-40	48	32
41-above	60	41
Total	148	100

          This table shows that 40% of the respondents representing 27% were between 25-30yrs, 48 of the respondents representing 32% were between 31-40 years. The age between 18-24 recorded nil while 60 of the respondents representing 41% were between 41 and above.

Table 2: Distribution of respondents by sex

Sex	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)
Male	102	69
Female	46	31
Total	148	100

         

          From this table, 102 respondents representing 69% are male while 46 respondents representing 31% are female.

Answering research Questions

Research question 1: What are the perception of FOI Bill by Journalists in Bayelsa State?

          This question was answered with questionnaire items 7, 8 and 15.

Question 7: Are you aware of freedom of information bill?

Options	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)
Yes	148	100
No	Nil	Nil
Total	148	100

          This table shows that the number of respondents that were aware of freedom of information bill was 148 representing 100% while the second option, recorded nil, meaning that all the journalists in Bayelsa State are aware of the Bill.

Question 8: What is your perception of FOI Bill?

Table 4: Perception of Respondents

Options	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)
Good	148	100
Bad	Nil	Nil
Total	148	100

          From the table, 148 respondents representing 100% have good perception of the Bill while the second option recorded nil meaning that journalists in Bayelsa State have positive perception about the bill.

Question 15: Have you made use of the Act?

Table 5: Use of FOI Bill by respondents

Options	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)
Yes	148	100
No	Nil	Nil
Total	148	100

          The number of respondents that have made use of the Act is Nil those who have not made use of it even though they are aware were 148 representing 100%.

Research question 2: What are the challenges of journalists in accessing unhindered information?

          This research question was answered with questionnaire items 9, 10 and 14.

Question 9: How you accessed information from any government agency since the signing of FOI Act?

Table 6: Accessing of information by Respondents

Options	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)
Yes	Nil	Nil
No	148	100
Total	148	100

          This table whose that 148 respondents representing 100% had not accessed any information from any government agency since the signing of the act while the first option recorded Nil.

Question 10: Do you face challenges in accessing unhindered information?

Table 7: Challenges of accessing unhindered information

Options	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)
Yes	140	94
No	8	6
Total	148	100

          From this table 140 respondents representing 94% face challenges in accessing unhindered information while the second option recorded 6%.

Question 14: Have you ever been threatened to be sued?

Table 8: Threatening of respondents

Options	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)
Yes	Nil	Nil
No	148	100
Total	148	100

         

          This table shows that the first option had Nil respondents while 148 respondents representing 100% had never been threatened by anybody.

Research question 3: OF what benefit is the FOI bill to journalist?

Question 11: Is there any benefit from FOI Bill?

Table 9: Benefits of FOI Bill

Options	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)
Yes	148	100
No	Nil	Nil
Total	148	100

          Table 9 shows that 148 respondents representing 100% said there are benefits of FOI Bill while the second option had Nil.

Findings: Three basic findings were made in relation to the research questions, they are:

1.     It was found that all the journalists in Bayelsa State were aware of the act.

2.     It was found that all the journalists had good perception of the Bill before it was finally passed and signed.

3.     It was equally found that none of the journalists in Bayelsa State has made use of the act.

4.3     Discussion of Finding

          This study examined the perception of Freedom of Information Bill which is now an act, by journalists in Bayelsa State. The findings show that journalists Bayelsa state are all aware of the act and had a good perception of it but had not made use of it.

          The forgoing goes to corroborate what Garba (2010) said in the literature. He said that the corrupt leadership has refused to accept that the citizen have the right to know the life-blood of democracy and to take urgent steps to improve the flow of information to all citizens. They even believe that the bill is about giving so much power to the media and that such power could be used negatively against law makers.

          The culture of record keeping and maintenance, retrieval capacity challenge in many public institution, bureaucracy in public service, as well as widespread corruption and appealing ignorance among the workforce in the public sector also constitute challenges to the achievement of the goals of the FOI. Inspite of the merits of this act, certain other challenges remain to be addressed such as the culture of secrecy, the process of judicial review, the lack of political will to implement the act and the fact that public officials still retain significant discretion as to whether to disclose information under the Act.