In a clear indication that President Muhammadu Buhari is back to work, the President yesterday signed a number of treaties and ratified nine international agreements between Nigeria and other entities in a bid to bolster the administration’s war against corruption.
The President signed an extradition treaty and 5 others with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The federal government is investigating 22 politically exposed individuals with billions of naira worth of proproperties in UAE. These include;seven former Governors, seven ex-Ministers, four businessmen, a former chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a former Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service, a former presidential assistant indicted in the $2.1billion arms deals and a former First Lady who allegedly used fronts to acquire some choice properties.
I've just signed Instruments of Ratification for a number of agreements covering AntiCorruption,Tax Admin & Intellectual Property Protection pic.twitter.com/kKQsXXQBQu
— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) August 24, 2017
The signing of the treaties with UAE will quash some of the hurdle impeding the federal government’s’ investigation and prosecution of the culprits. Before the signing of the treaties, the UAE law mandates any foreign anti-graft agency to seek the consent of the owner of any property being verified before you can have access to same. But now, the anti-graft agencies in Nigeria can send a list of suspected assets to the UAE authorities through the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Mutual Legal Assistance will be invoked.
President Buhari also signed the following agreements: Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Civil and Commercial Matters, Agreement on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and an Extradition Treaty.
Other Agreements include Charter for the Lake Chad Basin between Nigeria, Cameroun, Central African Republic, Libya, Niger and the Republic of Chad; African Tax Administration Forum Agreement on Mutual Assistance in Tax Matters and World Intellectual Property Organization Performances and Phonograms Treaty.
Agreements on the World Intellectual Property Organization Treaty on Audio-Visual Performances and the Marrakesh Treaty to facilitate access to published works for persons, who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise were also signed.
The signing of the treaties at the Presidential Villa, Abuja by President Buhari was in the presence ofthe Ambassadors of Switzerland, Chad, Niger, European Union, United States of America and Britain, among others
According to reports in the Nation, the EFCC has secured Mareva Injunction to freeze some foreign accounts and seize some assets linked with some of these highly placed Nigerians in some jurisdictions. Some of the offshore financial institutions, where accounts are frozen, include BNP Paribas (Switzerland), LGT Bank (Switzerland), Standard Chartered Bank (London),Barclays Bank (London), Standard Energy (Voduz, Switzerland), HSBC (London), Corner Bank (Lugano, Switzerland) and Deutsche Bank (Geneva).
