Nigeria risks suspension from the
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), an organisation which
promotes the open and accountable management of oil, gas and mineral resources,
over President Muhammadu Buhari’s delay in assenting to the Companies and
Allied Matters Act (CAMA) repeal bill.
The previous national assembly
passed the bill but the president is yet to assent to it.
Some civil society organisations
in the country appealed to the president to sign the bill, saying Nigeria has
one week left and that failure to sign it before the deadline could lead to a
possible ban.
The civil society organisations
are The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), African Center for
Leadership and Strategic Development, Zero Corruption Coalition (ZCC), Center
for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), SOTU-Nigeria, National
Procurement Watch Platform (NPWP), African Center for Media and Information
Literacy (AFRICMIL), Open Alliance, BudgiT, Center for Democracy and
Development (CDD) and Women’s Rights and Protection Alternative (WRAPA).
Addressing a press conference on
behalf of the groups, Auwal Rafsanjani, executive director of CISLAC, said
Buhari had made commitment to strengthen anti-corruption reforms and joined the
open government partnership (OGP) in May 2016 during the anti-corruption summit
in London.
He said: “One of the commitments
in Nigeria’s country statement issued by President Buhari at the summit was
that ‘Nigeria is committed to establishing a public central register of company
beneficial ownership information.’ Three years after this bold commitment and
two years of implementation of OGP, there is still no beneficial ownership
register.
“The ultimate goal is the
establishment of comprehensive database of REAL OWNERS behind the management of
private companies operating within Nigerian jurisdiction,” he said.
“If CAMA bill is not signed by
President Buhari this week, a decade of work will be lost and irreparable
diplomatic, economic and reputations damage inflicted on Nigeria.”
Rafsanjani listed the benefits of
CAMA when signed into law to include: “Beneficial ownership register will
address Nigeria’s obligations towards; Financial Action Task Force (FATF) whose
efforts aim at promoting policies and standards that insulate global financial
systems from acts of money laundering and the financing of terrorism and
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (Article 24 and 25); Nigeria’s
obligation under the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), the
global Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) implementation of the
beneficial ownership standards in extractive sector before the 31st of
December, 2019 deadline for Nigeria.Above all, Nigerian will profit as stolen
public wealth will be exposed.
“In the absence of CAMA, we risk
the suspension from the EITI initiative where Nigeria has always played an
important global role and adjudged one of the best EITI countries. Furthermore,
Nigeria is already under pressure from the United States, European Union and
other important partners for weak compliance with anti-money laundering
legislation, anti-terrorism financing and illicit financial flows. Sanctions
will follow if rapid improvement is not achieved right now! In addition,
President Buhari’s anti-corruption credentials will receive yet another blow if
he fails to act on CAMA.
“We have just missed a huge
opportunity to leap forward in the fight against Nigeria’s stolen wealth. The
failure to enact the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) has inexplicably jeopardized
the asset recovery effort, which the Executive champions with great vigour.
Many international partners and domestic stakeholders have been horrified to
observe the opportunity lost as hundreds of millions of US dollars are awaiting
to be returned to Nigeria by the international community. Without POCA, there
is no framework to do that in an accountable and transparent way.”
The civil society organisations
also advised Buhari not to give corrupt persons opportunity in his cabinet.
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