By: Eric Ikhilae, Abuja
Contrary to general belief, every
Nigerian can access information about assets declared by public officers to the
Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), using the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act,
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar
Malami (SAN) said yesterday.
Malami said Section 1 of the Act
empowers individuals, corporate bodies and personalities to apply for
information and have it made available by public institutions without any
restriction.
The AGF, who spoke in Abuja,
said the actual amount of money stolen from the nation’s treasury and held
abroad could not be ascertained by the federal government.
The minister, who spoke at a media
roundtable held to promote the Open Government Partnership (OPG) initiative of the
government, noted that the current government was committed to transparency in
the management of state affairs. Malami said: “I think Nigeria is one of the
limited numbers of nations that have, as a matter of obligation, passed the
Freedom of Information Act.
“Section 1 of the Act vest powers in
individuals, corporate bodies, and personalities to apply for information and
have it made available without restriction.
“What I am saying in essence is that it
is not only a policy statement, but a demonstration of legislative commitment
and legislative action on the part of Nigeria as it relates to transparency of
the process; not only restricted to the Code of Conduct Bureau, but in all
circles of government.”
Malami argued that it was impossible
for the federal government to categorically state the amount of Nigeria’s
stolen funds stashed abroad even though the process of recovering them had been
ongoing for over ýone year.
He said that the dynamics of
differences in the laws of various countries where the funds were stashed
as well as ongoing investigations into the looted funds had made it impossible
for government to be able to know precisely how much of the nation’s stolen
funds were stashed abroad.
“I want to state that it is impossible
to give you a clear cut figure but particularly against the background of
complexities of issues associated with the recoveries,” he said. “Investigative
processes are ongoing; it keeps changing by the minute, changing by the hour,
changing by the day, depending on the prevailing circumstances.
“So, against the background of the
complexities, against the background of the dynamics of the processes, and
against the background of differences in law, it is not a position over which
one can give categorical commitment which figures. But, that does not mean
we do not have an idea of it on case -by-case basis. There are cases that are
pending in court. There are cases that are subject to compromises and
concessions with parties.
“So the heads are multiple, the
approaches are different, the jurisdictions are dynamic and such categorical
disclosure of figures is impossible at this hour because it all depends on the
angle that we are to look at it,” Malami said.
The AGF explained that the OPG was a
global initiative adopted by the government in fulfillment of President
Muhammadu Buhari’s ýcommitment to deepening the government’s anti-corruption
polices, transparency and reforms already undertaken by government.
Also at the event were the Minister of
Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices
and other related offences Commission (ICPC), Ekpo Nta, and a representative of
the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), David Babachir,
Mohammed Nakoji.
Chairman of the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, and representative of the Chairman of
the CCB, Sam Saba, Dr Ademola Adebo also attended the event.
·
Source: The Nation
No comments:
Post a Comment