By AbdulRaheem Aodu
Abuja
The United Kingdom Minister for Africa and Department For International Development, (DFID), Rt Hon Grant Shapps, yesterday declared his country’s readiness to shut the door against looters of African resources and treasury.
He made the remarks at the launch of a 100 million pounds public sector accountability and governance programme initiated by the UK government to support Nigeria in its development agenda, at the Government House, Kaduna.
Speaking at the event which had representatives of Kano and Jigawa state governments in attendance, Shapps said: “Nigeria matters to the UK. The UK is fully committed to helping Nigeria increase its security, stability and prosperity. Tackling corruption is imperative to that. We share and support President Buhari’s stated commitment to rooting it out.
“We will continue to provide capacity building and technical and investigative support to Nigeria to tackle corruption and are scaling up this support.”
“We have an opportunity now to develop a comprehensive partnership across these areas; I hope that we can work together to quickly drive this forward.”
Accompanied to the launch by some top British Embassy officials including its High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Paul Arkwright, the minister noted that corruption, money laundering and culture of impunity, had done serious damage to Africa development such that the UK government needed to protect the integrity of its financial system by exposing those with the intent of carting away the continent’s resources.
To stem the tide, he assured the UK government would provide all the necessary support for the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in his lead effort at tackling corruption in the continent.
“Corruption in Nigeria also affects the UK directly. Where we have evidence, we will continue to take action to protect the integrity of the UK’s financial system and prevent its use for money laundering purposes,” Shapps pledged.
He further assured of UK’s resolve to assist in building Nigeria’s vital institutions to fight corruption and insecurity, stressing that no efforts would be spared in bringing punitive measures against those bent on carting away the nation’s wealth.
On the 100 million pounds Public sector accountability and governance programme support by the British government, the DFID boss said the programme, “first is to build institutions that are accountable and able to meet citizens needs.”
“To enhance scrutiny of public expenditure through parliamentary oversight and citizen engagement to hold government to account; and thirdly, to increase evidence of what works and what does so officials and citizen can make informed decisions about government’s activities.
“To fight poverty you need lots of things. You need to end conflict. You need to make sure medicines and health workers are there. You need to ensure people have food.
You need to ensure you have jobs. But for all these things to happen, you need to end corruption. You need to make sure that the money is used well.
“That public services reach citizens-including the poor. You need to ensure that you have an environment that allows businesses to invest their money and create jobs-without unnecessary red tape. You need public institutions that make it easy for citizens to access services without having to pay bribe”.
He was however of the view that “none of this can happen where corruption is allowed to thrive. Corruption is bad for development, bad for poor people and bad for business.”
“Corruption takes away public trust in public officials and government institutions. Corruption distorts competitive markets and lead to reallocation of resources. If not tackled, corruption on a grand scale, and those that practice it, will ultimately destroy Nigeria.”
He further pledged UK’s continued support to closely collaborate with Nigerian authorities to ensure the menace is eradicated, insisting that “this programme will help government to open up and be more transparent.”
Shapps further stressed that “Corruption in Nigeria also affects the UK directly. Where we have evidence, we will continue to take action to protect the integrity of the UK’s financial system and prevent its use for money laundering purposes.
“We will continue to collaborate closely with Nigeria authorities on this. There will be no impunity on our side and we will take action fairly and promptly against anyone commitment criminal offences in areas under UK jurisdiction. Where assets are recovered, we will take them to Nigeria as soon as we can so they can be used for the proper benefit of Nigerian development.
“We will ensure that British businesses operating in Nigeria do so in full compliance with the provisions of the OECD anti-bribery convention and the UK Bribery Act. We are committed to rigorous enforcement and expect the highest standards of business integrity from British business operation in Nigeria.
This is the only right for good business but also should heal Nigerian business and authorities clean up their acts and meet the highest standards of business integrity.”
Also speaking at the event, the Kaduna state Governor, Malam Nasril El-Rufai, commended the visiting UK minister and his team, describing the coming of the Buhari administration as a divine intervention that would correct all the ills that had plagued the nation in the past.
The governor who showered encomiums on the British Government for its role during the last election in Nigeria, assured that the Buhari-led government won’t disappoint the international community.
