7.23.3 Strategies The Government will: i. Ensure support for the acquisition of ICT and capacity building for Civil Society organizations; ii. Promote initiatives that focus on the responsible use of ICTs especially in respect of privacy and dissemination of information; and iii. Ensure availability of platforms and processes to facilitate Government interaction with Civil Society groups. 7.24 Open Data and ICT Open Data deals strategically with how certain data within government confines should be made freely available to the public, and allow republishing without restrictions. Having an open data policy would help to improve governance and support implementation of the new Nigeria Freedom of Information Act (2001). 7.24.1 Situation analysis Following the passage of the FOI bill by the Federal Government of Nigeria, it is important to establish a framework that supports the adoption of the Open Data initiative. ICT and Open Data policy thrusts will focus on how certain data within the government confines will be made freely available to the public, for viewing and republishing without restrictions. 7.24.2 Objectives i. To strengthen the role of citizens and civic societies by providing data, in machine readable formats, from various sectors of the economy; ii. To encourage the development of innovative products using publicly available data; and iii. To ensure that a portal is always up and running, which provides necessary data from all sectors. !"#$%&"'()*+(,%'$-.(/(0120( ( ( ,"34(78(