Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The House of Representatives on Tuesday disclosed that 400 treaties, protocols and agreements signed by successive governments in Nigeria are yet to be ratified or domesticated.
The disclosure was made by the Chairman of the House Committee on Treaties, Protocols and Agreements, Hon. Ossai Ossai, who lamented that the National Assembly is usually left out of the processes leading to the signing of some of these agreements.
The federal lawmaker made the disclosure at the commissioning of the National Depository of Treaties domiciled at the Headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Justice in Abuja.
He described the project as a milestone and pledged the support of his committee and the National Assembly towards making the project a success.
According to Ossai, the House Committee on Treaties had, at the inception of its work, identified four critical areas of development, among which is the establishment of a functional National Depository of Treaties.
“As a committee, it is encouraging that the Honourable Attorney-General has shown commitment towards the attainment of some of these goals through the formal commissioning of the National Depository of Treaties. This is very important because our engagements in the last few months have shown that over 400 Treaties, Protocols and Agreements entered into by successive Government of Nigeria are yet to be ratified and/or domesticated,” the lawmaker said.
“We also noted the fact that the National Assembly is not usually involved in the processes leading to negotiations and signing of most of these Treaties, Protocols and Agreements”, he said.
He used the occasion to solicit the collaboration of the executive arm of government with the National Assembly in order to promote shared knowledge and make it easy for ratification/domestication of signed treaties.
He disclosed that his committee has commenced the process of reviewing all Treaties, Protocols and Agreements entered into by the Nigerian government with a view to making them beneficial to all Nigerians.
“We will in the coming weeks organise a special public hearing, amongst other things, to review existing treaties and ascertain status of their implementation, discuss ways to ensure that our treaties making procedures are harmonised and are in compliance with relevant laws, and also develop a National Policy on Arbitration to help protect Nigeria’s interest on all Bilateral/Multi-lateral Investment Treaties (BlTs/MITs),” he added.
In his remark, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, described the commissioning of the National Depository of Treaties as an important milestone in
the history of Federal Ministry of Justice.
According to the Minister, the project will serve as the depository of all treaties entered into between the Government of the Federation and any other country of any Ministry, Agency or Department in line with Section 4 of the Treaties (Making Procedure, Etc.) Act Cap. T20 Laws of the Federation (LFN) 2004, which domiciled the National Depository of Treaties in the Federal Ministry of Justice.
He used the occasion to call on all Ministries, Departments and Agencies to transmit to the National Depository of Treaties all executed agreements, Memoranda of Understanding, and treaties in their custody and those to be entered in the future in their original form.
“This is in further compliance with the Service-wide, Circular Reference No. HCSF/LU/FEC/M/938 dated 2nd March 2017 issued by the head of the civil service of the Federation as directed by the Federal Executive Council. It is our hope that very soon the National Depository of Treaties will be in the cloud for a more global outlook and accessibility from any part of the world.
“It is about transparency, accessibility and order in line with the tenements of Open Government Partnership and access to justice which the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to upholding”, he said.
Some of the goals of the project, Malami listed, include the achievement of a functional National Depository of Treaties; maintenance of a comprehensive/updated Register of Treaties and ensuring that all Treaties, Agreement and Protocols entered into by the Government are preserved.
Also speaking, National President, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Paul Usoro, SAN, commended the Ministry for the establishment of the centre which, according to him, would help redress the issue of poor record-keeping in the country.
Usoro further noted that the project would further improve access to justice as it would easily make vital information available to Nigerians.