President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed his support for plans to restrict the movement of persons involved in corruption to prevent them from travelling abroad.
This was disclosed via a statement released by Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina on Thursday, May 12, 2016.
The statement reads:
“We commit to work together to enhance company disclosure on the payments to governments for the sale of oil, gas and minerals, complementing ongoing work within the EITI.
“Nigeria is already reporting progress through the EITI working groups and will continue to work with interested countries to build a common understanding and strengthen the evidence for transparency in this area.
“We welcome voluntary disclosures through EITI reporting and by some major companies regarding payments to governments for the sale of oil, gas and minerals.
“We welcome the new 2016 EITI Standard, in particular the requirements on beneficial ownership and the sale of the government’s share of production. We will sign up to the Common Reporting Standard initiative.
“We commit to reviewing penalties and other actions against professional enablers of tax evasion, including for corporations that fail to prevent their employees from facilitating tax evasion.
“We support the development of a global commitment for public country by country reporting on tax information for large multinational enterprises. We commit to the strengthening of our asset recovery legislation, including through non-conviction based confiscation powers and the introduction of unexplained wealth orders.”
“In order to improve on the current legal procedures and ease asset recovery procedures, we have drafted the Proceeds of Crime Bill which provides for the transparent management of recovered funds and assets and a non-conviction based approach to asset recovery.
“We will work with others countries, civil society, international organisations to support accelerated implementation of the voluntary provisions of the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and we commit to the implementation of the outstanding obligations under the UNCAC.
“We support the establishment of an International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre to be managed by National Crimes Agency of Britain. We will work with NCA in promoting this centre in the African region.
“Nigeria will establish a transparent central register of foreign companies bidding on public contracts and buying property. We welcome the proposal by developed countries to work together to improve the access of developing countries to beneficial ownership information for use in public contracting.”
Buhari is in the UK to attend an anti-corruption summit organized by the Commonwealth.
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