Nigeria submits draft resolution to UN calling for global action against corruption

NIGERIA'S government has submitted a draft resolution to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption on the Use of Beneficial Ownership Information and Data Disclosure as part of its fight against graft against.

Regarded as one of the most corrupt countries on earth, Nigeria has suffered from the debilitating effect of graft since independence. Upon coming to power in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari made it clear that the fight against corruption will be his flagship policy and as part of this drive he has submitted a resolution to the United Nations (UN).

This resolutions calls for action to identify, track, recover and return assets looted or stolen from developing countries. Abubakar Malami, Nigeria's attorney-general and justice minister, announced the new initiative while addressing the ninth session of the Conference of State Parties in Progress taking place in Egypt this week.

He explained that the draft resolution was submitted jointly with the support and partnership of five other developing countries, namely, Kenya, Pakistan, Peru and Saudi Arabia. Obiageli Onuorah, the spokesman for the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (Neiti), said Mr Malami informed the UN convention that Nigeria had put in place institutional structures and legislations to protect its resources.

Mr Malami conveyed Nigeria’s appeal to the Conference of State Parties of the UN Convention Against Corruption to consider the draft resolution on its merit in view of its strategic importance in recovering looted assets from developing countries. As part of the fight against corruption, the Neiti has also announced that a National Beneficial Ownership Register would be inaugurated in January next year.