From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (EUROJUST) and the Federal Ministry of Justice have signed a working arrangement to strengthen cooperation on transnational organized crime.
This was a follow-up to recent meetings in 2023 between the parties, which includes the implementation on the arrangement.
Speaking at a meeting in Abuja, the Vice-President of EUROJUST, Mr José de la Mata Amaya, expressed the need for the mutual commitment to work together on this complex phenomena.
He further noted that crime is borderless and, as such, would require effective collaboration among states and agencies to put criminals behind bars.
The meeting, hosted by the EU Delegation, had in attendance the EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ambassador Gautier Mignot, Nigerian Solicitor General, Beatrice Jedy Agba, the EU Member States Ambassadors, representatives of the United Nations office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC),
The meeting will open dialogue towards a better understanding of the EU, its Member States, and the Nigerian legal systems, and identify challenges and areas where collaboration can deepen or become more effective.
“Nigeria needs the support and assistance in the cases with the member states of the EU, and indeed, the member states of the EU also need to strengthen and enhance their cooperation with the authorities of Nigeria.
“We meet today to know each other better, to define which best practices are to enhance this cooperation, to also identify challenges, issues, or problems that may exist in the member states where we are assisting the Nigerian authorities, and also in Nigeria where they assist the member states.
“And the main aim of this endeavour will be to improve the number of cases that we have together, because that will mean that we are providing more assistance to the judges and prosecutors in the member states and also in Nigeria when it comes to their trans-border investigations.
“We have reached a conclusion, and we know for sure that if you wanted to do something, you can do it alone, but if you want to go farther, you have to go in a team. And that’s what we want to achieve with this working arrangement: to work like a team, respect all the international conventions, multilateral and bilateral, that are in place when it comes to international legal cooperation, and respect the guarantees and rights of the person under investigation, and together as a team, as colleagues, achieve a criminal justice goal,” he added.
Meanwhile, EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ambassador Gautier Mignot, expressed the joint willingness of Nigeria, the EU and its Member States and the UN agencies, to fight transnational organised crime, in a more coordinated and efficient way.
He thanked UNODC, which has been very instrumental in helping to start the cooperation and also facilitating the implementation of the working arrangement.
The Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Beatrice Jeddy-Agba further stated that the arrangement is primarily aimed at strengthening joint efforts against transnational organised crimes, with particular focus on enhancing seamless judicial cooperation across international borders in the interest of international criminal cases.
She said: “We hope that this will broaden our collective vision and illuminate pathways for reinforced cooperation in international criminal justice matters between Nigeria and the EU.
“We also hope that we are able to achieve our goal of practically implementing the working arrangements, hoping that it operate smoothly and efficiently for the effectiveness of tackling criminal activities between Nigeria and Europe, among others.”