British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright, disclosed yesterday at at the ‘First Annual Conference on Combating Financial Fraud, Cybercrime and other Cross-border Crimes’ that the United Kingdom £7 million in the past 5 years under the Justice 4 All (J4A) programme to build capacity of the anti-corruption agencies and help Nigeria fight corruption.
J4A organised the event in Abuja. During the event, Arkwright pledged his country’s commitment to further partnerships with Nigeria to combat corruption. “Corruption is one of the greatest challenges of our time – a challenge Nigeria is unfortunately all too familiar with. Addressing that challenge is essential to the future of this country,” said Arkwright.
“Failing to do so will mean further decades of poverty, inequality, reputational damage overseas, massively reduced external investment and an undermining of the huge potential represented by Nigerian youth. We have heard already from previous speakers about the huge cost of corruption.”
He said there was no better time for the two countries to fight together against corruption. “From only a short time here as High Commissioner, it’s already clear to me that President Buhari and Prime Minister Cameron share a determination to root out this blight on the growth of our economies, the health of our societies, our national and collective security, and even the integrity of the sports we love.”
Arkwright said UK Support had boosted capacity in drafting new legislation to underpin the fight against corruption, investigate and prosecute cases and stimulated greater public accountability through civil society. Last year we launched a £100 million Public Sector Accountability Programme to strengthen systems and reduce opportunities for corruption.
British officials are working with the Ministry of Justice, Economic & Financial Crimes Commission and other stakeholders to determine support that Nigeria needs most.
“2016 is a year of transition into an enhanced set of activities. The J4A anti-corruption effort ends and we are looking at what might succeed it,” said Arkwright.
