•Cameron reverses self, lauds Buhari’s anti-graft war
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has accused the international community of looking the other way when it comes to tackling corruption, stressing the need for all to jointly tackle the evil together.
This is even as British Prime Minister, having described Nigeria as one of the “fantastically corrupt” countries in the world, lauded Buhari’s war against graft.
Cameron in his opening remarks at the Anti-Corruption Summit, applauded Buhari’s vigorous efforts to curb corruption in Nigeria.
The Nigerian President for the upteenth time urged the international community to urgently create anti-corruption infrastructure and a strategic action plan to facilitate the speedy recovery and repatriation of stolen funds hidden in secret bank accounts abroad.
He said new measures against corruption that will be adopted by the summit should also include mechanisms that will assist countries like Nigeria to combat illegal activities such as crude oil theft, adding that Nigeria loses about $7 billion annually to oil theft.
“When it comes tackling corruption, the international community has unfortunately looked away for too long. We need to step up and tackle this evil together. That is why we have gathered here today.”
Other speakers at the opening session included the President of the World Bank, Dr. Jim Yong Kim and the United States Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry.
Buhari also backed a proposal to restrict the ability of those involved in corruption to travel, invest and do business overseas.
He disclosed that in furtherance of his administration’s ongoing war against corruption, Nigeria would soon begin the full implementation of the principles of the Open Contracting Data Standard.
“We support the establishment of an International Anti-Corruption Coordination Center to be managed by National Crimes Agency of Britain. We will work with NCA in promoting this centre in the African region,” the President said.
He said that the Federal Government will apply the Open Contracting Data Standard to major projects in the oil, transportation, power, health, education and other sectors.
The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) enables disclosure of data and documents at all stages of the contracting process by defining a common data model.
The publication of OCDS data ensures greater transparency in public contracting, and can support accessible and in-depth analysis of the efficiency, effectiveness, fairness, and integrity of public contracting systems.
Buhari said his administration was also taking steps to ensure greater transparency of the ownership and control of all companies involved in property purchase and public contracting.
“Nigeria is already collating this information through the Extractive Industry Initiative process and will extend it to other sectors.
“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,” he said.