CSOs to Strategise for Passage of Anti-corruption Bills

By Bassey Inyang in Calabar

Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria working in the area of anti-corruption are to meet in Abuja from the 3rd to 4th of November, 2016, to discuss issues relating to the strengthening of the legal framework against corruption in Nigeria.

Top on the agenda is the consideration of strategies for advocating for the transmission and passage of: the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), Nigeria Financial Intelligence Center (NFIC), Whistle Blowers Protection and Mutual Legal Assistance Bills by the National Assembly.

The meeting, being put together by the Media Initiative against Injustice, Violence and Corruption, MIIVOC, with support from Justice for All of the British Council, expects about fifty civil society organisations from across the country in attendance.

Confirming the plan on Monday while speaking to newsmen in Calabar, Executive Director, Media Initiative against Injustice, Violence and Corruption, MIIVOC, Dr. Walter Duru, described the bills as central to the country’s anti-graft war.

“Recall that Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami promised Nigerians that the present Federal Government is committed to the passage of the bills.

“During the annual Conference on Financial Fraud, Cyber Crime and Cross Border Crimes, held in Abuja in February, 2016, the Attorney General, in his keynote address, assured Nigerians that the bills will be transmitted to the National Assembly as Executive bills and eventually passed, while announcing that the Mutual Legal Assistance and Money Laundering bills were already transmitted. Till date, nothing appears to be happening in the case of the rest of the bills and nobody is saying anything to the citizens,” he said.