- Suggests Modalities For Tackling Graft
By Celestine Okafor (Editor-in-Chief)
As the world marks this year's Anti-Corruption Day today, Thursday, December 9, 2021, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and the National Chapter of Transparency International (TI) in Nigeria have called on the Nigerian government to rise in the spirit of the occasion and tackle corruption in the system decisively.
CISLAC specifically asked President Muhammadu Buhari's government to march words with action in the administration's fight against corrupt practices by urgently addressing all issues relating to dirty money in Nigerian politics and public sector, so as bolster public confidence in the government's efforts in this regard.
In a statement on Thursday evening by CISLAC's Executive Director and Head, Transparency International (TI) in Nigeria, Comrade Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani, CISLAC insists that the Nigerian government must immediately commit to the independence of anti-corruption agencies and prioritize the fight to combat dirty money in politics.
According to CISLAC, the lack of independence for the anti-corruption agencies affects funding, appointment, tenure of office of heads of the agencies, and their operational independence.
"This affects the ability of the agencies to take bold actions against dirty money, despite actionable intelligence and financial data leaks like the recent Pandora papers report. These agencies find it hard to act on the illicit financial outflows. It is estimated that Nigeria loses about $18 billion annually", Rasfanjani pointed out in the statement.
The CISLAC boss, therefore, called on the Nigerian government, to, among others, urgently establish public, central beneficial ownership registers of legal entities and arrangements; to mandate and resource public authorities to establish mechanisms to independently verify the accuracy of beneficial ownership information provided by legal entities and arrangements.
CISLAC also enjoined the government to require foreign companies investing in Nigeria to abide by the same beneficial ownership transparency requirements as domestic actors. Besides this, it also asked the government to apply proportionate and dissuasive sanctions to companies and individuals in cases of non-compliance.
It mandates the leadership of Nigeria to record and publish beneficial ownership information of companies awarded public contracts or concessions and also investigate the Panama, Paradise, and Pandora leaks, and publicly publish the reports.
CISLAC however tasked President Buhari's administration to regulate enablers of corruption by committing to addressing major corruption enablers but mandating the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), and relevant anti-graft and law enforcement agencies to prioritize and ensure that financial institutions and professionals, as well as designated non-financial businesses, adhere to existing Know Your Customer (KYC), Customer Due Diligence (CDD) as well as Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) requirements to prevent the cross border flow of Nigeria’s resources through illicit means by politically exposed persons, business persons, religious bodies, private individuals and their collaborators.
CISLAC also canvassed that the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs should work in cooperation with their international counterparts to ensure that global enablers/intermediaries like lawyers, notaries, accountants who help facilitate money laundering and tax evasion are sanctioned appropriately while stolen assets belonging to Nigeria are repatriated.
Rasfanjani specifically charged the government to endeavor to commit to extending anti-money laundering rules to all professionals and entities providing services bearing risks of money laundering; to require gatekeepers to identify the beneficial owners of their clients, including both domestic and foreign politically exposed persons (PEPs); to conduct enhanced due diligence on high-risk customers and report suspicious transactions to competent authorities.
CISLAC charged the government to ensure that adequate powers, as well as technical, human, and financial resources for supervisory authorities, law enforcement and Nigeria financial intelligence unit, fulfill their responsibilities. Gatekeepers, the Anti-Corruption NGO suggested to the government, should be subjected to dissuasive and proportionate sanctions, ranging from license withdrawal to monetary fines for non-compliance with anti-money laundering obligations.
Rasfanjani however stated that sanctions should cover both legal persons and senior management. Not only that, he said the government should support anti-corruption activists and whistleblowers and must ensure that actions by state actors and non-state actors leading to the shrinking civic space as observed by the CIVICUS and Freedom House stop.
CISLAC also charged the government, to, as a matter of responsibility, commit to defending whistleblowers, journalists, anti-corruption activists and human rights defenders. The government, Rasfanjani demanded, should specifically commit to supporting engagement with investigative journalists and civil society organizations for systemic change.
He stated that they should establish specific funds to support anticorruption practitioners such as whistleblowers; develop a framework for public interest organizations to bring collective compensation claims on behalf of victims of corruption, ae same time, provide credible and well-functioning corruption reporting mechanisms that allow citizens and civil society organizations to report corruption safely and confidentially.
CISLAC equally urged the government to nsure that legislation regulating non-profit organizations does not restrict the capacity of civil society Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) to operate. He suggested that government should prioritize the passage and implementation of comprehensive whistleblower protection laws, in line with international standards and best practice, and ensure that whistleblower protection legislation is effectively implemented and enforced.
CISLAC pleaded with the government to adopt these specific commitments, which will display a commitment to democratic principles and strengthening human rights. The group stated that strong anti-corruption commitments are further needed to prove the seriousness of the zero tolerance to corruption as repeated by the government.
"We further encourage adopting new and bold actions instead of repackaging the same commitments made in different forums on the international stage", the CISLAC statement said.
On the occasion of the Anti-Corruption Day being celebrated globally today, CISLAC and Transparency International (TI) however rejoice with the law-abiding Nigerian citizens, anticorruption activists, and other state and non-state actors on this auspicious day.
CISLAC commended President Joe Biden and the United States Government for the Democracy Summit. "We commend the Nigerian Government, as well, for committing to participate in this timely global gathering of democrats and change-makers. Democracy, the world over, faces intractable challenges that threaten the fundamental freedoms and the promise of development that were once considered the key signposts of democracy", said CISLAC.
The group however stated that "In Africa, democracy has witnessed rapid rollback in many countries, including Mali, Guinea, and Sudan where military coups have led to the suspension of constitutional democracy. In Uganda, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, and Equatorial Guinea, elected Presidents have used the instrumentalities of the state to circumvent constitutional guardrails and perpetuate themselves in office.
"All this while, corruption, lack of accountability, authoritarianism, and poor governance continued to lock the continent in violent conflicts; death, disease, and insecurity that threaten a return of the 1970s and 1980s Africa. Across Africa, the civic space and vocal civic leaders have become targets of state-sponsored attacks, to gag free speech and curtail civic activism.
"In Nigeria, the story is not different. President Muhammadu Buhari’s failure to quickly tackle the legacies of misgovernance inherited after coming to office in 2015 and the missteps by the administration has sunk the country deeper into widespread insecurity, unemployment, poverty and inequality, voter apathy, corruption and impunity, extra-judicial killings, and high-handedness among law enforcement and security agencies, and a widening distrust for the government among citizens".
CISLAC however recalled that the world still remembers the unprovoked mauling of young Nigerians during the #EndSARS protest, in Lagos. We, therefore, call on the Nigerian government not to see the 2022 Summit for Democracy as another photo shop.
It urged the government instead "roll up the sleeves to use the opportunity to mobilize partnerships and resources necessary to tackle corruption and impunity which currently poses the greatest existential threat to Nigeria. We call on the Nigerian government to commit to the listed issues.
"On our part, we assure the government of our highest support in implementing and supporting the above-mentioned actions. We believe that these specific recommendations will display Nigeria’s strong international reputation at the US-led Democracy Summit". NNL.
