Anti-corruption: Buhari ratifies pact with UAE
ratification of the Charter for the Lake Chad Basin between Nigeria, Cameroun, Central African Republic, Libya, Niger and the Republic of Chad.
Others are the African Tax Administration Forum Agreement on Mutual Assistance in Tax Matters; World Intellectual Property Organisation Performances and Phonograms Treaty; the World Intellectual Property Organization Treaty on AudioVisual Performances and Marrakesh Treaty to facilitate access to published works for persons who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise.
Buhari, via Twitter, stressed that the ratification of the agreements covered anticorruption, tax administration and intellectual property protection.
“The ratification of Agreements is an important step, in line with the delivery of our anti-corruption and economic diversification vision, he said.
At the signing ceremony, Buhari expressed hope that the instruments would reinvigorate his administration’s anticorruption war and check the illicit flow of funds out of Nigeria.
The president said the agreements would also improve national security, food security, boost the country’s economic and tax regimes and improve the overall wellbeing of the nation’s creative community.
He directed all agencies of government with roles to play under the respective treaties to ensure that they play their anticipated roles in an effective and responsible manner in order to enable the country reap the full benefits of the agreements.
He explained that he signed the agreements in line with the powers conferred on him by Section 5(1) (a) and (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and Article 7 of the Vienna Convention on the law of treaties of 1969.
He described the ceremony as a very important milestone in Nigeria’s demonstration of sovereign capacity to fulfil her international obligations and take important steps for the benefit of her economy, security and the anticorruption war within and outside the country.
The president observed that the full implementation of the agreements had been delayed due to the need by both sides to conclude their respective ratification processes.
He noted that pursuant to a memorandum presented to the Federal Executive Council by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, the council had approved the ratification of the said agreements, thus paving the way for the signing yesterday.
“With this sovereign act, which has been replicated in the United Arab Emirates by their responsible authorities, we are now in a position to utilize these agreements fully to foster cooperation between our respective authorities particularly for the purpose of prosecuting the anticorruption campaign of this government.”
Experts hail agreements
Diplomatic experts have hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the anticorruption agreements with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), saying the road is now wide open for the recovery of more loots stashed in that country.
Billions of dollars of Nigeria’s loots is believed to have been stashed in banks or invested in real estates in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Both countries, on January 19, 2016 in Abu Dhabi, signed bilateral agreements on recovery and repatriation of stolen funds and extradition of culpable officials.
The Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and his counterpart in the United Arab Emirates, Bin Saeed Albadi, signed the Judicial Agreements on Extradition, Transfer of Sentenced Persons, Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters, and Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal and Commercial Matters, which includes the recovery and repatriation of stolen wealth.
Experts said now that the president has signed the agreement; it has now become a law.
Ambassador Suleiman Dahiru, a retired diplomat, said the signing of the agreement strengthens Nigeria’s antigraft agency to get all stolen properties to the possession of the federal government.
“With the signing of the agreement by the president, the road is now wide open for EFCC, together with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice to get back all Nigerian loots stolen and stashed in UAE,” he said.
He expressed belief that with the present political leadership in Nigeria, the agreements would be fully implemented.
“The agreement would be implemented because we have a serious government and we have a serious anti-corruption agency and Ministry of Justice that will now cooperate to ensure that proper investigation in carried out and loots recovered,” Dahiru added.
He said the ratification of the Charter for the Lake Chad Basin between Nigeria, Cameroun, Central African Republic, Libya, Niger and Chad would help greatly in revamping the Lake Chad.
A foreign affairs analyst, Omo-Oba Abd. Rasheed Adesokan, said the signing of the agreement by the president is part of the global fight against corruption and that the possibility of getting stolen funds repatriated is now more real.
“As for those who are having the intent of looting and stashing them in that country, there is no place for them again…Both the perpetrators and the receivers are now identified as co-operators,” he said.
Adesokan said the full implementation the agreement lies on the leadership of both countries but expressed belief that the Nigerian government would live up to expectation.
“You can be rest assured that the Nigerian part of the agreement would be fulfilled and the political leadership we have in the country is such that will insist that the other party live up to the bargain because Nigeria will deliver and we expect nothing less from the other party,” he said.