President Muhammadu
Buhari arrives in London on today to join 50 other world leaders at a
landmark international anti-corruption summit, called by Prime Minister
David Cameron.
The “Anti-Corruption Summit London 2016”
will bring together world leaders, business and civil society to agree a
package of practical steps to:
• expose corruption so there is nowhere to hide
• punish the perpetrators and support those affected by corruption
• drive out the culture of corruption wherever it exists
• put
in place infrastructure and tools that can be used by international
organisations, countries and national institutions to fight corruption.
In a remarkable recognition of his
ongoing war against corruption in his own country, President Buhari will
speak twice at this event,first as a keynote speaker at a
pre-conference meeting, called by the new Commonwealth
Secretary-General, Baroness Patricia Scotland, and the second for eight
minutes allocated to each president or head of government at the main
summit, giving the clearest indication that the president’s focus has
become a template for the rest of the world.
Recognition apart, the president is not
making pretensions about his success and achievements. Knowing the
humility with which he goes about his things, he is not marching to
London with a macho image of a fighter, who, in a true sense of the
word, pushed back the Boko Haram terrorism and its threat to the nation
and confronting equally, embedded corruption like no other regime. Of
course, these are milestones visible to the naked eye of the
international community, which have earned the goodwill of the people
at home and abroad
When he goes to London, President Buhari
intends to share experiences with other leaders. He is of the strong
conviction that increasing globalisation has has made it difficult, if
not impossible for stand-alone nations to combat corruption; that
without global synergies against corruption, nations will fail in their
efforts towards economic growth, maintaining security, reducing
poverty and protecting the environment for their children. He will, in
the light of this seek support for anti-corruption capacity for our
national institutions and the citizenship.
As his own contribution, the president
has substantially aligned himself with major initiatives enunciated by
the convener, Prime Minister David Cameron, that seek to increase
transparency and governance in several key areas.
He has formulated a Nigerian position on
how to end impunity for corruption and ensuring that those involved in
grand corruption are brought to justice through the active enforcement
of laws and restrictions. Equally in agreement with Cameron, he is
making suggestions on ways of empowering those affected by corruption by
ensuring that its proceeds are returned to those from whom they had
been stolen.
President Buhari will also join the world
leaders in designing a global architecture and tools that can be used
by international organisations, countries and national institutions to
fight corruption.
In an outline by this county’s
Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, specific
areas of interest to Nigeria, which the president will put on the table
include the development of beneficial ownership information related to
corporate ownership, procurement and public contract.
By this, Nigeria will seek the lifting of
the veil on corporate ownerships in order to disclose the true owners
of a corporate vehicle in contact bids and procurement processes. Beyond
this, the corporate ownership profile may be shared with other
countries or interested stakeholders.
Already, there is a broad view among the
participants that public contracting is a source of public corruption
and must be tackled as such. Our officials recommend that contracts
within a certain threshold should be published and those behind the
companies bidding for the contract should be listed for public scrutiny
both at national and state levels.
To achieve this, Nigeria plans the
enactment of a regulation that will authorise the Corporate Affairs
Commission, CAC, to obtain information on beneficial ownership of
foreign companies that can be held in a different database to be managed
by the CAC in Nigeria.
Nigeria will be demanding the
strengthening of the supervisory responsibilities of financial and
non-financial services regulators and provision of specific training on
compliance requirements for these sectors and will seek the
establishment of an inter-agency collaboration, as a key element in
improving the implementation of Financial Action Task Force, FATF,
standards (such as the money laundering laws, anti-corruption laws, and
Financial Intelligence Center Bill).
As part of measures to enhance fiscal
transparency, which is required in enhancing economic growth, improved
GDP and poverty reduction, officers working in budget offices as well as
those responsible for approving public spending may henceforth be
properly scrutinised, monitored and required to declare assets on a
regular basis.
The Nigerian government has, in fact, set
for itself the objective of signing the ‘OPEN GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP
AND OPEN CONTRACTING PARTNERSHIP.
A major issue of interest to this
government and a few others is on greater transparency in the extractive
industry (oil, gas and solid mineral sectors). The U.K. Government and
the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, have
identified 20 per cent of international corruption and bribery as coming
for this sector. Nigeria will argue for greater fiscal transparency and
and the enforcement of anti-corruption laws to deal with the problem.
The president is expected to give
assurances that a lot of work will be done on a set of laws that will
improve enforcement of anti-corruption laws. Nigeria has already begun
reviewing its anti-corruption laws enacted since 2000 to bring it in
compliance with international developments. In addition, the country
which has ratified the United Nations Convention Against Corruption,
UNCAC, is currently reviewing the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention for
possible ratification. The OECD convention is considered among the
stringiest of measures against corruption in corporate governance.
The government of President Buhari has
also forwarded the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill, 2016 to
the National Assembly in Nigeria for enactment into law.
When it is passed, it will enhance mutual assistance and international cooperation between Nigeria and other countries.
The president will also announce that a
new Nigeria Financial Intelligence Center Bill has been drafted for this
purpose and would soon be forwarded to the National Assembly.
The Nigerian government will also
indicate support for the UK proposal on the development of the
INTERNATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION COORDINATION CENTER. This is to be based
in London and will serve as a global forum.
As part of this country’s contributions
to the evolution of the global anti-corruption infrastructure, Nigeria
will seek support for the hosting of an “International Summit on Assets
Recovery “in 2017 in Abuja and for the establishment and hosting of a
“Forum on Assets Recovery in Africa” to be based in Abuja. The country
will also seek the support of the UK government for the establishment of
an anti-corruption coordination framework at the national level.
Nigeria will be fully embracing UK
proposals for the summit on the restriction of the ability of those who
have looted public funds from traveling and investing the proceeds of
their corruption in developed countries. To this end, the Nigerian
government will develop its list of those who have been convicted as
well as those already prosecuted in Nigerian courts for grand corruption
for the purpose of sharing them with countries that are interested in
offering bilateral or multilateral cooperation to Nigeria in the
recovery of looted funds.
The Nigerian government is also signaling
an early support for the UK proposals on assets recovery, which
prescribes measures substantially in tandem with a new Proceeds of Crime
Bill being drafted and would soon been forwarded by President Buhari to
the National Assembly for passage into law.
In addition to the political spotlighting
of corruption, the coming together of world leaders is a sign of hope
that countries like Nigeria with systems that are lax and compromised
can gain from the experience of others in improving their regulatory
mechanisms as quickly as possible.
This trip is important for both Nigeria
and the international community, which reposes a lot of hope on
Muhammadu Buhari who is faced with the daunting task of reversing the
the socio-economic and political mess in which the previous
administration left the country.
In addition to the anti-corruption
summit, the visit will also focus on trade and investment between
Nigeria and the U.K. President Buhari will welcome British investment in
Nigeria.
It is hoped that the bilateral
discussions between the Prime Minister and our President will focus on
issues of common interest and do everything possible to take the
relationship between the two countries to newer heights.THE SUN
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