₦airaland Forum

Nigerian officials rose from the U.S.-Nigeria Bi-National Commission (BNC) meeting on Wednesday without committing Buhari administration to a key demand of their American counterparts, membership of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the Partnership on Illicit Finance (PIF), two anti-corruption initiatives promoted by the United States government.

Launched in 2011 and 2014 respectively, OGP and PIF are multilateral initiatives that require policy and technology-backed anti-corruption framework in member countries.

OGP signatory governments are required to develop action plans that elaborate their commitment to defined standards of government integrity, citizen participation, corporate accountability, public safety and effective management of public resources, all of which are to be overseen and verified by a multi-stakeholder international steering committee of governments and leading civil society representatives.

PIF is an outcome of the historic U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit which was attended by Nigeria and 50 other countries.

It requires member nations to develop action plans to stem cross-border corruption-related financial flow which they can execute in conjunction with the United States. Nigeria currently ranks 10 on the global index of countries with high illicit financial flow.

American officials were vocal about their desire to see Nigeria join OGP and PIF preparatory to the BNC meeting.

Speaking on U.S.-Nigeria partnership at the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) two days before the meeting, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of African Affairs, praised President Buhari’s “strong position on fighting corruption”.

She pledged U.S. support for law enforcement and judicial investigation and prosecution of “complex corruption cases” and called on Nigeria to “join the growing global community that is using OGP and PIF to strengthen transparency, accountability, and good governance”.

Nigerian delegation to the BNC, led by Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of Foreign Affairs, did not elaborate on their objection to membership of the OGP and PIF. The 19-paragraph communique issued at the end of the meeting stated that the “BNC discussed the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the Partnership on Illicit Finance (PIF)” and that the U.S. delegation talked about the “potential benefits to Nigeria of membership in these two initiatives”.

The communique states that “the Nigerian side agreed to respond to the outstanding invitations to join in due course”.
Nigerian officials are not strangers to OGP requirements, in fact, they were discussed at the 2012 BNC meeting which, like this year’s, was held in Washington DC.

The fourth paragraph of the communique from that meeting, which was signed by delegates from both countries, affirmed their commitment to transparency and accountability at all tiers of government, in pursuit of which “Nigeria intends to widen its budgetary transparency efforts to include public asset declarations by parliamentarians and other senior public officials”.

Nigerian delegation to that meeting was led by Olugbenga Ashiru, then minister of foreign affairs, it included four state governors and officials from four ministries and six agencies.

They were roundly condemned by the Jonathan administration for acceding to the clause on asset declaration. President Goodluck Jonathan refused to declare his assets throughout his stay in office.

After the communique from the 2012 BNC became public, he dismissed calls for asset declaration on a prime time public television program, saying that there is no legal requirement for him to do so.

The U.S. delegation to this year’s BNC obviously expected that their Nigerian counterparts would have no objection to joining the two anti-corruption initiatives since President Buhari and Vice-President Osinbajo have already declared their assets.

Assistant Secretary Thomas-Greenfield noted that President Buhari is following through on his anti-corruption promises including implementation of Treasury Single Account, elimination of ghost workers from civil service payroll and taking steps to ensure that no one is “immune from prosecution – not officials from past administrations, not officials from his own”.

Many of Nigeria’s allies have joined the two organizations. Members of OGP grew from six founding countries to 69 in less than five years, they include Ghana and Liberia in West Africa, as well as Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania and Tunisia. PIF members include Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mauritius, Liberia, Niger, and Senegal.

mars123:
Been a member doesn't guarantee that there will be no corruption as I can see that Kenya for example is a member of both the OGP and PIF and still they rank above us in the corruption index. So what exactly is the benefit of joining this group?

opius:
They knew these USA guy will dig deep very well that buhari self will be query ...

billyoung:
I am sure there is a reason they declined. There might be clauses in the requirements for membership that are not in our national interest or that might be detrimental to our national security. We need more information on what the terms of joining these organs are before we start screaming blue murder.

seunmsg:
"Members of OGP grew from six founding countries to 69 in less than five years, they include Ghana and Liberia in West Africa, as well as Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania and Tunisia. PIF members include Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mauritius, Liberia, Niger, and Senegal".

Is the OGP meant for African countries alone?
We should be careful about joining organisations that are similar to International criminal court that prosecutes only African leaders.

Vice President Jonathan Bows To Pressure, Declares N0.2Billion In Assets

VP Goodluck Jonathan 
The Vice president Goodluck Jonathan yesterday capitulated to public pressure over the public declaration of his assets as done by his boss, President Umaru Yaradua as he made public his assets declaration to the Code of Conduct Bureau.

The assets which were made public by the senior Special Assistant to the Vice president on Media and Public Affairs, Ima Niboro indicates that the value of the Vice president total assets and cash in banks stands at N295,304,420.

This is about N561, 148,472 less than the assets declare by President Umaru Yar’Adua who declared his total assets to be at the value of N856,452,892.

Mr. Iniboro said the vice president’s decision to make public his assets declaration was to show that ‘there is nothing to hide’.

He added that the vice president is ‘a firm believer in the rule of law and this has guided his conduct in office through the years.

“It is this belief that also guided his position that having declared his assets for a total of seven times, there was no point in going further to publish the declaration” he noted

The vice president’s aide regretted that the position of the vice president not to make public his assets declaration had ‘generated an unfortunate storm, which is not only distractive but also quite unnecessary. We are worried that some newspapers and citizens we hold in high esteem have joined the fray.

“This merely shows that in the affairs of man, there comes a time when even the law must take a second place and the public mood must define our actions. To The Vice president, this is such a time, hence the choice to send you a copy of his declaration for publication” he said.



In the assets declaration made public yesterday, it indicated that the vice president submitted his assets declaration before Justice Muktar Dodo of the Abuja high court on 30th May 2007, a day after the oath of office and oath of allegiance was administered on him.

A break down of the assets of the vice president indicates that he has four buildings located in Yenegoa, Abuja and his home town in Ogbia, Bayelsa state.

The Vice president said he owns a five bedroom Duplex in Gwarimpa 11, Abuja which was acquired in 2003 through loan and is valued at N24,990,000 while another Seven Bedroom Duplex, which he described as Village personal Home is located at Otuoke in Ogbia Local government area of Bayelsa state. It is valued at the cost of N18,000, 000 and was acquired through ‘savings and gifts in Kind.

The last of the Vice president’s residential buildings are the Four bedroom Duplex acquired in 2003 through ‘savings and gift in Kind’ in the Kpansia area of Yenegoa. The value of the building, he said is N15,000,000. The last Building is the extended Family house in Yenegoa which he said is a four flat storey Building acquired between 2003 and 2007 through savings. The value of the property is put at N10,000,000.

Under vacant and undeveloped plots, the vice president stated as follows: 1032.50 square meter of land located at Onopa Yenegoa and valued at N3,098.00. Plot 2C, 374 Low density Area Yenegoa allocated by the bayelsa state government and valued at N150,000. 2760.00 square meter plot at cadastral Zone BO2, Durumi, Abuja allocated by the federal Capital Development Authority and valued at N5,578,540. One Parcel of farm Land at Otuoke Ogbia acquired through inheritance and estimated at the value of N50,000,000.

Plot Medium Density in Yenegoa allocated by the Federal Ministry of Works and housing the value of which he said is N1550.00

Plot 29, Low density Area Plot in Yenegoa allocated by the Bayelsa state government the value of which is put at N4,908. While the last undeveloped plot owned by the vice president is plot 2246 Cadastral Zone A06, Abuja the value of which he put at N4, 800,000. It was allocated by the Federal Capital development Authority, FCDA

The Vice president’s investment in stocks which is being managed by City Code Investment Company is as follows.

S/No Name of Stock Number Of Shares Value As At 5/25/07
1 CADBURY PLC 8,666 N264,313
2 FLOUR MILLS PLC 8,466 N635,119.32
3 GUINESS NIG. PLC 6,395 N796,177.50
4 UNILEVER 18,750 N337,500
5 UNION BANK OF NIG. PLC 23,466 N727,446
6 FIDELITY BANK PLC 33,333 N296,663.70
7 UBA PLC 180,000 N6,838,200
8 ACCESS BANK PLC 84,656 N1,635,553.92
9 CADBURY PLC 2,500 N76,250
10 UNION BANK PLC 716,109 N22,199,379
11 FIRST BANK PLC 20,000 N808,000
12 FLOUR MILLS PLC 13,333 N1,000,241.66
13 NIGERIAN BREWERIES PLC 10,000 N363,000
14 BANK PHB PLC 866,666 N24,959,980.80
15 OANDO 15,125 N1,134,375
TOTAL 2,007,465 N62,072,200
Other investments include 4nos passenger boats for hiring which is valued at N5, 260,000. While the total cash in Nigerian banks being personal saving of salaries/allowances and income from his investments stands at N58, 984,123.

The vice president house holds utensils including generators, a BMW car valued at N15, 800,000, which he said was a gift; air conditioners, furniture, electronics and kitchen utensils is valued at N41,800,000.