The Freedom of Information law was originally seen as a press law but the common purpose of the law was first to structure the system for ease of free flow of information in government custody and secondarily to strengthen public accountability and thirdly, to redefine the pristine representative governance. The enthusiasm about the law in Nigeria has been with mixed feelings as cases across the country prove the unwillingness of states to abide by the law through the doctrine of state interposition. This work addresses the implementation of the FOIA of 2011 which has been less than uniform with an empirical investigation and an experiment survey (N=800) was issued to access public perception of the usage of the law in enhancing public accountability in Nigeria. There will be multiple theoretical frameworks as the researcher also adopts the mixed method of both the doctrinal and non-doctrinal which encompasses table top research, collation of questionnaire and interviews. The thesis has six main sub-headings. The first sub-heading of the work is the general introduction which covers the background to the study, statement of problem, research methodology, scope, and limitation, and significance of the study. The second covers conceptual clarifications, literature review and theoretical and historical foundation of the law. The third discloses the research methodology which covers sample size, procedure, method, instrument of data collection and analysis. This chapter emphasizes ethics running across the blocks. The fourth heading is on data Presentation and result analysis, presentation and explanation of findings. The research finds that the annual reporting of government on FOIA in Nigeria is inaccurate and unverified to validate any measurement of the implementation of the law to aid public accountability in Nigeria. As part of the recommendations, it was postulated that the people must come together to measure compliance independent of government reporting mechanism, so as to validate government data. The significance of the work is that for the first time in Nigeria, the perception of the people in the usage of the law to enhance public accountability was measured in a national scale. The research will benefit the general public particularly legislators, pro poor and the civil society groups.
