IAP URGES GOVT TO RATIFY AU CONVENTION

Good governance group welcomes the ratification of UN Anti Corruption
Convention, insists that government
should also ratify regional instrument

LAGOS 6 APRIL, 2004. Against the backdrop of last week’s declaration
by foreign affairs minister Olu Adeniyi that Nigeria has ratified the
UN Anti Corruption Convention, Independent Advocacy Project (IAP),
the good governance group, has urged the federal government to also
ratify the African Union (AU) Convention on Preventing and Combating
Corruption which was adopted last July in Maputo, Mozambique by
African Heads of State.

While describing the ratification of the UN Convention as a
significant development, IAP in a statement released yesterday in
Lagos points out that both the UN and the AU Conventions are useful
instruments and that one should not be ratified to the neglect of the
other.

The AU Convention has useful provisions - especially in the areas of
access to information, political party financing and repatriation of
stolen assets - that will complement the salient provisions of the UN
Convention. Incorporating this instrument into Nigerian laws will
pave way for a systematic and systemic approach to the fight against
corruption. For instance Article 19 (3) of the Convention
enjoins “all countries to take legislative measures to prevent
corrupt public officials from enjoying ill-acquired assets by
freezing their foreign accounts and facilitating the repatriation of
stolen or illegally acquired monies to the countries of origin.”

Besides, the regional instrument compliments the transparency
provisions of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD),
which is particularly important especially as Nigeria has voluntarily
submitted itself to be reviewed under NEPAD’s African Peer Review
Mechanism (APRM). Ratifying the Convention will no doubt assist
Nigeria in living up to its NEPAD promises.

Says IAP: “Ratifying the Convention will further empower the public
sector anti corruption organisations such as the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices
Commission (ICPC), the Code of Conduct Bureau, the Public Complaints
Commission and others.”