The federal high court in Lagos has awarded N2 million against the police in the case involving Okwuchukwu Obiechina, brother-in-law of Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, suspected kidnapper better known as Evans.
Obiechina had filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit against the police for “illegally” detaining him in the course of investigations into Evans’ alleged kidnap.
In his ruling on Monday, Mohammed Idris, the presiding judge, said Obiechina’s arrest and detention by the police was unconstitutional.
The judge declared as invalid, the remand order which the police said it obtained prompting his detention.
He ordered the police to either release Obiechina unconditionally or immediately charge him to court if they so wish.
The court also awarded N2 million damages in Obiechina’s favour and subsequently ordered the police to tender a public apology to Obiechina which will be published in two national dailies.
Evans is being tried along five orders for alleged criminal cases bordering on kidnapping and conspiracy.
Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha, a Brazilian whose arrest led U.S. authorities to discover $17 million hidden under a mattress in an apartment in Westborough, Massachusetts , United States, has pleaded guilty that he tried to launder funds tied to one of the largest pyramid schemes ever.
Rocha, who prosecutors said tried to help get money out of the United States that a co-founder of TelexFree Inc left behind when he fled the country, entered his plea in federal court in Boston.
Rocha, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and money laundering charges, is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 7. While the charges each carry up to 20 years in prison, prosecutors have agreed to recommend a 40-month term based on his cooperation
The 28-year-old’s case stemmed from an investigation of TelexFree, a Massachusetts-based company that sold voice-over-internet telephone service and was founded by James Merrill, a U.S. citizen, and Carlos Wanzeler, a Brazilian.
Prosecutors said TelexFree was a pyramid scheme, making little to no money selling its service while taking in millions of dollars from thousands of people who paid to sign up to be “promoters” and post ads online for it.
TelexFree collapsed in 2014, inflicting more than $3 billion in losses on nearly 1.89 million people worldwide, prosecutors said.
Merrill was arrested in 2014. He was sentenced in March to six years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges.
Wanzeler in 2014 fled to Brazil, where he cannot be extradited from, leaving behind tens of millions of dollars he laundered from TelexFree accounts, prosecutors said.
In 2015, Leonardo Casula Francisco, Wanzeler’s nephew, asked someone who became a cooperating witness to help transfer cash generated from the scheme that Wanzeler had hidden in the greater Boston area out of the United States, prosecutors said.
The pair agreed someone would be sent to the United States to deliver the money in increments to the witness, who would send it to accounts in Hong Kong where it would be transferred to Brazil, prosecutors said.
In December, Casula sent Rocha to the United States to deliver money to the witness, an indictment said.
After a Jan. 4 meeting in a parking lot where Rocha gave the witness $2.2 million in a suitcase, federal agents followed Rocha to a Westborough, Massachusetts, apartment complex, prosecutors said.
They said that after Rocha was arrested, he helped agents locate the apartment, where they found $17 million hidden under a mattress.
Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, on Sunday questioned the President Muhammadu Buhari administration for reinstating the ex-Chairman of the defunct Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, despite being indicted for allegedly perpetrating fraud to the tune of N2bn and who is on INTERPOL wanted list.
Fayose, however, reacted to the reappointment of Maina as a Director in Nigeria’s civil service.
On his official twitter handle, the Ekiti State governor wrote: “Someone accused of stealing billions of pension funds was returned to the FG civil service and you still think Buhari is fighting corruption?”
The Ministry of Interior confirmed on Sunday that Maina, who is also still on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s wanted list, was reabsorbed and promoted to the position of Director of Human Resources at the ministry following recommendations from the Office of the Head of Service
Newsheadline247 gathered that the fugitive director is expected to run for governor of Borno State in 2019 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress.
Agency Report Gov. Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa says the PDP is not playing its expected role as an opposition party due to numerous internal crises within it.
Dickson, who made the claim during a chat with newsmen in Yenagoa, however, said he remained optimistic that the party would bounce back to winning ways ahead of the 2019 general elections.
The governor, who headed the PDP reconciliation committee, said there were internal forces within the party that were working against the emergence of a cohesive and strong PDP.
“I have invested enormous efforts in rebuilding the PDP and the work of rebuilding hasn’t been successful.
“PDP has a lot of work to do to become a formidable opposition party and I think that most PDP leaders lack the experience of opposition.
“But I remain optimistic. I pray the party overcomes its internal challenges, and I have been very prayerful because Nigeria needs a strong PDP as the country has seen the failure of the APC.
“Nigeria needs PDP, and I remain hopeful that the party survives,” Dickson said.
He said that he remained resolute in his call for the restructuring of the country adding that his call was borne out of patriotism and quest for fiscal federalism.
“The Niger Delta people love Nigeria and have sacrificed to support the economic base of Nigeria. My support for restructuring is for the overall interest of our people. We love Nigeria and will want a better deal in a truly federal structure.
“There is an urgent need to have an all-embracing discussion to strengthen our unity and take decisions on the terms of the federation,” he said.
The governor applauded the state Ministry of Health for containing the spread monkey pox disease, which broke out in the state four weeks ago.
He urged the people to continue to maintain high level of personal hygiene and remain vigilant.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has launched a fresh manhunt for a former head of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina.
Mr. Maina was sacked from the civil service in 2013 and was in 2015 placed on the wanted list of International Police (INTERPOL) by the EFCC.
Premium Times on Friday reported how Mr. Maina was secretly reinstated to the civil service, with promotion, despite being wanted for alleged corruption.
Additional details obtained by this newspaper show that the embattled civil servant was issued a letter of reinstatement dated October 2 by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation.
The Minister of Interior, Abdurahman Dambazau, earlier on Sunday absolved himself of any culpability in Mr. Maina’s reinstatement, saying it was done by the Head of Service.
The October 2 letter claimed that Mr. Maina’s case was reviewed and that a decision was taken that he be reinstated.
The same letter also gave his new posting as acting director of the Department of Human Resources at the Ministry of Interior.
PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the reinstatement was at the behest of the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, who gave a favourable legal advice on the case.
Mr. Malami’s spokesperson, Salihu Othman, however said he was unaware of his boss’s role in the deal.
Irked by the news of Mr. Maina’s silent re-entry into the country, the EFCC leadership convened an emergency meeting on Sunday to strategize on the case.
A source, who was part of the meeting, said the commission’s boss, Ibrahim Magu, who was out of Abuja when PREMIUM TIMES broke the Maina story, convened a meeting of operatives working on the case.
As part of the fallouts of the meeting, according to our source, operatives were detailed “to smoke out Mr. Maina wherever he mmight be”.
Mr. Maina is said to be shuttling between Kaduna and Abuja since he sneaked back into the country.
Aside the Ministry of Interior, Mr. Maina’s new work place, detectives are said to have spread around the city, including a safe house that is said to have been offered Mr. Maina by one of the nation’s security agencies.
Also being closely watched by operatives are Mr. Maina’s many houses in Abuja including one EFCC sources said he bought in June 2015 for a massive $2 million cash.
Corroborating our source, EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, told PREMIUM TIMES Mr. Maina “is still a fugitive. We are after him”.
The EFCC is also said to be deeply angry at how someone that was put on the wanted list of INTERPOL could be helped by government officials to sneak back into the country and then rewarded with a promotion to higher office.
The commission suspects sabotage, according to a highly placed official.
Documents seen by our reporter show the many correspondences between the EFCC and Interpol on the request to put Mr. Maina’s name on the agency’s wanted list.
The commission first wrote the Inspector General of Police in November 2015, a few days after Mr. Magu assumed office, asking for Mr. Maina’s name to be flagged by Interpol.
However, the letter was declared missing by the office of the Commissioner in charge of Interpol at the Force Headquarters, making the commission to make the request again.
On January 12, 2016, Interpol wrote to the EFCC again requesting for additional details to enable it publish the red alert. EFCC replied the letter, providing the details requested.
However, a search for Mr. Maina’s name on the Interpol website returned no record. Premium Times
Kogi State Government on Sunday admitted that it owed the late Mr Edward Soje, eight months of unpaid salary before he committed suicide on Oct.16.
The state Head of Service, Mrs Deborah Ogunmola, admitted in a statement in Lokoja.
She said that Soje received his monthly salary up till December 2016 when it was suddenly stopped by the government.
“His pay was stopped after proof emerged that he falsified his age records. His confession to the offence is on video to justify government stoppage of his salary, ’’Ogunmola said.
Soje, a Director in the state Teaching Service Commission was found hanging on a tree at the back of army barracks in Lokoja.
He was among workers being owed arrears of salaries ranging from two to 21 months by the state government.
Ogunmola, however, explained that following engagements with the labour which spanned several months, the Kogi governor magnanimously commuted the disciplinary action due against Soje and other certain categories of offenders by granting them pardon.
“Pardoned members of staff were processed for reinstatement and payment in batches. Mr Soje was in the September 2017 batch and he was aware of this fact.
“The Kogi State Teaching Service Commission, where he worked has forwarded a template for payment to government and Mr Soje was aware that he was listed to receive six months back pay.
According to her, this leaves only 2 months (August and September) outstanding.
Ogunmola, who also hailed from Ogori, the same town with the deceased, said government was saddened in no small measure by the alleged action of Soje.
She described Soje as a level 16 officer and a director in the Kogi State Civil Service.
She, however, deplored media reports attributing Soje’s alleged decision to commit suicide to non-payment of salary.
“Edward Soje was not just my staff, he was also married to my sister-in-law. His death is shocking, both as one related to him in some way and one responsible for him in an official capacity.
“I met with him earlier last week and we discussed his situation, including the progress made in resolving his employment issues.
“There was no hint of this horrible decision in his demeanour. He did he appear to me as one who was depressed, let alone contemplating suicide. I am, therefore, understandably shocked by all of this.
“Government condoles with his family, especially his wife and three children. While we will not intrude into their grief over their sad loss, we will stand with them.” NAN
Emerging details have it that the centre can no longer hold among the leading figures of the ruling party All Progressives Congress (APC) as things begin to fall apart in chronological sequence.
The growing rift among leading figures in the party has been cited as the reason behind the absence of all governors of the South-West states from the party’s consultative meeting in Abuja.
It was learnt in Abuja on Saturday that the absence of the governors was designed to “send a message” to the party’s administrative leadership.
The consultative meeting, which was held at the party’s National Secretariat, Abuja, on Wednesday, was at the instance of the Chief John Odigie-Oyegun-led National Working Committee.
Apart from the deputy governor of Ondo State, Agboola Ajayi, who represented his governor, Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), none of the other five South-West governors attended the meeting or sent in representatives.
It was also unclear whether they sent in apologies as is usually the practice.
A top-ranking source within the party’s hierarchy, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “It was a message to all who care to understand the way the South-West plays its politics; there are no permanent friends or enemies but permanent interests.
“Did you see the attendance during the South-West zonal meeting? That should tell you something. I can assure you that all those absent from this (Wednesday’s meeting) will be present at the caucus meeting on the 30th (October) and NEC on the 31st if God keeps us alive.”
Although the Bauchi State governor, Abubakar Mohammed, told reporters on Wednesday, that the issue of an automatic ticket for President Muhammadu Buhari did not come up, a party source, who attended the meeting, said there were subtle moves to use the gathering to endorse Buhari for 2019.
However, the idea was said to have been dropped after a governor from the North-West and another from the North-Central drew the attention of those at the meeting to the dangers of doing so “at the moment”.
The source stated, “The governors argued that doing so at this point would not only polarise the party, but also make it vulnerable. They cited an example of the crisis the opposition PDP is grappling with in Anambra State with various factions laying claim (to the governorship ticket) after the imposition of a candidate.
“Another matter, which was discussed, was the unfavourable response of some of our party governors to fulfil their financial obligations to the party.
“Two South-West governors were specifically mentioned. The last time one of them came here was when he needed the party’s support for his candidate, who eventually lost in a bye election. The other one has only been here maybe just once after he won his election and both of them are from the South-West.
“A suggestion that we send a delegation to them to find out what is happening was turned down because some of the governors present said they contacted both of them but they said there was no problem.
“Most active politicians in the South-West don’t want a repeat of what happened to Alhaji Lateef Jakande and Ebenezer Babatope during the (Sani) Abacha days. NADECO asked them to withdraw from the administration; they refused. They are still finding it difficult to find a space within the main stream of Yoruba politics ever since.
The source also revealed that a majority of those at the meeting described the proposed amendment to 88 items in the APC constitution as “too much.”
Most of the governors present noted that it was too early in the day for the party to make such huge amendments to a document that was less than four years old.
A governor from the North-West told the gathering that as a lawyer, it was his opinion that the party was already running behind schedule with respect to its bi-annual national convention. The last one was held in March 2016.
But the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, explained that the absence of some of the party’s governors from the meeting was “just a coincidence.”
He said, “It was just a coincidence that some of our governors were not at the meeting. To single out those from the South-West would be unfair; the Ondo State deputy governor was here. Before now, Lagos (governor) usually sends his deputy. The governor of Osun and his counterparts from Sokoto and Zamfara states among others usually attend but they could not make it this time. It is not a sign that anything is wrong.”
Governors, who attended Wednesday’s meeting, included the Plateau State governor, Simon Lalong; Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu; Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai; and Imo State, Rochas Okorocha.
Others were Adamawa State governor, Jibrila Bindow; his counterpart in Bauchi State, Abubakar Mohammed, and that of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki.
The Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, and his Ondo State counterpart, Rotimi Akeredolu, were represented by their deputies.
While briefing journalists after Wednesday’s meeting, the Bauchi State governor, Abubukar Mohammed, blamed the absence of some of his colleagues on the exigencies of office.
He stated, “There is no communication gap. Two other deputy governors sent words that their flights were cancelled because of weather problem.
“The same thing applied to the governor of Sokoto State, who sent words that his flight was cancelled due to difficulty in weather. So, there is no communication gap whatsoever.
“In the past, the governors have been attending. Governors are very busy people, and it is always very difficult for us to have time to be on the field in addition to running our states.” The Punch
This Day>>> History is often written by champions. Sometimes they rewrite it. But very few champs excite the splendid tribute of a cheer in the wake of their most glorious feats. Dr. Mike Adenuga Jnr., the entrepreneur extraordinaire, effortlessly commands the relentless tribute of a cheer from far and near.
Thus in homage to his citizenship of humanity and relentless strides at rewriting the African business narrative, the French government invested him with the Chevalier de la Legion d Honneur, the highest French decoration and one of the most famous in the world, last month. A most exquisite, splendid and star-studded event was held at the Bellisima, Ikoyi, Lagos, where the French Ambassador to Nigeria made the formal presentation of the honour to the Africa’s most decorated and respected business genius.
Yes, the glitter and gloss of bullion blocks pale to the radiance of Dr. Mike Adeniyi Adenuga Jnr., GCON, CSG, CLH. If virtue truly is the fount of honour, then The Spirit of Africa, as Adenuga is fondly called, is a virtuous man. Among other feats, the great honour was presented to Adenuga for his “remarkable contribution to the development of the French-Nigerian relations, his appreciation of the French culture and also for the advancement and betterment of humanity.”
Established in 1802 by Napoléon Bonaparte to recognize eminent accomplishments of service to France, the Chevalier de la Legion d Honneur, France’s premier award, has been presented on behalf of the President of the French Republic to only the most deserving citizens in all fields of activity.
It is noteworthy that Adenuga is the first Nigerian to ever receive the award since inception. The investiture ceremony, which held on Friday, September 15, was a classy event that attracted the crème de la creme of Nigerian society and French and international diplomatic communities. The French Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency, Denys Gauer, conferred upon Adenuga, the honour in the presence of the special guests.
While expressing his gratitude, Adenuga stated that he feels greatly humbled and motivated to do even more for the betterment of humanity. He said, “I thank you and through you the President, Government and good people of France for the singular honour of conferring on me the title of Chevallier de la Legion D’honneur. And my heartfelt appreciation and thanks to your entire embassy staff who played a role in concretizing and making this award ceremony a great success. Please, rest assured of my continued attachment to the ideals of your great nation and my determination to actively pursue measures that would help to promote stronger socio-economic relations between our countries. Thank you also Your Excellency for your nice, touching words which through your kind auspices has been a most memorable experience.”
Notwithstanding his depth as an entrepreneur, philanthropy and citizenship of humanity, Adenuga covets no vanities thus unlike many other multi billionaires, he demands no free verses, heroic couplets or ornamental rhymes to glorify his personage as a man. Adenuga is hardly given to such infectious vanities.
He simply wears his entrepreneurial strength and savvy like a badge of honour, on his chest; burnishing it with sweat, as true virtuous men do. He stands tall, wading through odds with the courage of a knight and confidence of a champion.
Adenuga presents a rare contradiction to the notion that titans are only appreciated in death. He is a titan. He is very much alive and has become a legend in the hearts and minds of men. Stories are told of his greatness; echoes of his philanthropy are fed like fodder to the masses. In a land dogged by human and infrastructural lapses, his humanity and entrepreneurial ingenuity nourish the glands of kith and kin even as his genius oils the wheels of industry.
Yet, unlike the proverbial warrior who lives to sing the song of his own deeds and derring-do, Adenuga remains impressively humble and immune to conceit, treading a rare path to acclaim thus, attracting honour in torrents, from home and abroad.
This is why he is perpetually on song, among his clan and league of extraordinary men in the world. Adenuga emerges as the perfect symbol of business excellence and he is seen at home and abroad, as a historic figure, the personification of a business calculus within Nigeria and the African continent. This Day Live
The nonpayment of his salary for 11 months has forced a director in the Kogi State civil service, Mr Edward Soje, to take his life through hanging on a tree in Lokoja, the state capital.
It was a pitiful sight as the lifeless body of Soje was found dangling on a tree behind the mammy market, at the Maigumeri Barracks, housing the Nigeria Army Command Record.
Workers in Kogi State had embarked on strike over nonpayment of salaries for the past one month, bringing most government activities to a halt. The recent tragedy happened barely 10 days after the victim’s wife gave birth to a set of male triplets in a private hospital in Abuja, after 17 years of childlessness.
According to The Guardian, the late Soje had travelled to Abuja, where he dropped a suicide note for the wife, who also works in one of the federal ministries before ending it all. Soje, who hailed from Ogori town in Ogori -Magongo local government council of the state, was a Grade Level 16 Officer in the Kogi State Teaching Service Commission and was 11 months salary arrears at the time he took his life.
In the suicide note, he simply wrote: “Psalm 121:3 God will not suffer your foot to be moved: He that keepeth you will not slumber. Amen. You and the three boys, the God Almighty keep and prosper you, amen. I love you.”
Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP William Aya, said the dangling body of Soje was found on a tree behind the barracks at about 5:55 pm on October 16, explaining that the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Area D division received information about the incident from the military intelligence office in the barracks.
“Police moved to the scene, removed the corpse to the morgue of the Federal Medical Centre in Lokoja. Investigation is ongoing,” Aya said, adding that nothing was found on the deceased to help link up his address and family.
The Guardian also stated that it took a search party organised by relations and friends, to stumble on his corpse at the morgue of the hospital on October 20. Family sources said the late Soje had before the incident been going through a lot of financial stress, noting that he was unlucky to be among thousands of civil servants being owed between two and 21 months arrears by the government.
In an effort to meet up with his financial obligations, it was gathered that the victim had earlier sold his only car and a three-bedroom bungalow he was constructing at Otokiti area of Lokoja. The Guardian
By most accounts, developing countries, especially in Africa, are worst hit by illicit financial flows even as multinational companies and rich individuals evade taxes.
The 2015 leaks by the Panama Papers reports showed how many countries had lost huge sums as monies, carted away to offshore accounts and tax heavens.
Indeed, the leak came as a surprise as many countries realised that there were grave loopholes through which they were being short-changed.
Having identified the problem, the solution lied with countries agreeing to share information with one another to checkmate such activities.
The G20 and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have drafted a Common Reporting Standard (CRS) to serve as a foundation for a global network of automatic exchange of information.
The goal is to allow a country to exchange the financial information of foreigners, like names, addresses, tax identification numbers and account balance information, at regular intervals with the account holder’s home country government.
That way, a country like Nigeria can know all the businesses being entered into by its citizens in other countries and can monitor the financial flows of such a citizen and companies owned by such individual.
Illustration: How developing countries and Africa enter into information sharing treaties – Report
However, this seeming solution to the problem may not be a solution at all for developing countries as a report by Financial Transparency Coalition shows that African countries were being “Blindfolded” in this “fight” against secrecy.
It is not enough to sign the CRS as the report tagged “Unequal Exchange” showed that countries were not bound by the CRS to automatically share information and as such a pattern had been established over time were rich countries only share information with fellow rich countries.
Perhaps it could be argued that the rich countries have more financial flows from their countries, but when compared in relation to percentage of Gross Domestic Products (GDP), then developing countries are being ripped off even way more.
For instance, the report quoted that: “the Democratic Republic of Congo had nearly five times more offshore wealth connected to the Swiss Leaks scandal than Germany, when considered as a percentage of GDP.
“Similarly, the exposure of Central African Republic was eleven times that of the USA and the figure for Kenya nine times that of Canada. The list goes on.
“And this is not a theoretical concern. With the information made available through Swiss Leaks, in 2015 Spain claimed it recovered roughly 340 million dollars in taxes and fines.
“When applying a similar rate of return to the money connected to Sierra Leone, for example, the potential revenue could be about 4.95 million dollars
“Though 5 million dollars may sound paltry at the onset, the fact that the potential tax revenue from just one bank in just one secrecy jurisdiction could equate to roughly 19 per cent of the country’s health budget is simply shocking,” it stated.
An estimate from the report shows that about 33 per cent of all assets of the Middle East and Africa are held offshore while Latin America has 25 per cent of its assets offshore.
One then wonders why the pattern of information flows seems to favour the developed countries like the U.S. and other European nations while the developing countries of Africa who suffer the most are left blindfolded and in the dark.
In Africa, only South Africa had established sharing relationships with European countries: Nigeria just signed the report but it is said to come into effect in 2018.
According to the statistical map made available by the report, no other African country was receiving any information from the rich economies.
Conceivably, these information sharing treaties, developed by the Western countries are originally skewed to further favour the developed countries rather than the developing countries.
According to the report: “When the OECD and G20 began designing the CRS, they did so without meaningful consultation of low-income countries.
“The result was a system designed by wealthy nations, with wealthy nations in mind, making many of the prerequisites impossible for countries that don’t have sizable tax administration budgets or advanced technical capacity.
“To make matters worse, some wealthy countries are choosing to share information predominantly or exclusively with other wealthy countries.
“In our analysis of information exchange agreements in place around the globe, we found a stark political reality in which high-income countries receive the lion’s share of information, while some of the World’s poorest are receiving none at all.
This therefore may explain why a country like the United States of America receives information from 113 countries but only shares with 57 while other rich countries in the West only shares information with other wealthy countries.
In Africa, only South Africa has good sharing relationships while other African countries have either one relationship or none at all as they have either not signed on or no country has agreed to information share with them.
In some cases, a developing country may only have a relationship with a fellow developing poor economy: “Of what use will information exchange between Nigeria and Kenya be if all the money stolen from both countries are stolen by Western multinationals and hidden in offshore accounts in Europe and America.
Switzerland, a favorite hiding place for “kleptocrats” and the corrupt, has agreed to exchange information with just 9 high-income jurisdictions under the CRS (in addition to members of the European Union, under a separate EU agreement).
None of the world’s 31 low-income economies are on the receiving end of any automatic information exchange, while just 21 of the world’s 109 middle income economies receive automatic information.
Even if the poor economies were to receive the information, they do not have the capacity to digest it or make meaning of them as the CRS requires high technical capability.
The Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo at the launch of the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) announced that Nigeria was now party to the Automatic Exchange of Information through the CRS, which comes into effect in January, 2018.
In his excitement, he said “this means that Nigeria will automatically have all the information to successfully pursue tax evaders across the World.
“Specifically, we will have information on beneficial owners of assets held abroad, including those in tax havens,” he said.
However, a source at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) said that looking at all the requirements and procedures to get access to information through the CRS, Nigeria is likely to qualify for automatic information by 2019.
The source explained that the process was highly technical and staff of the FIRS and the Federal Ministry of Finance, who would be getting direct access to these information when it comes into effect would require intensive capacity building.
“Once we meet the requirements, our focus areas would be information about Nigerians with properties in Europe. Yes Nigerians are everywhere, but we believe that a large chunk of the stolen assets are hidden in Europe,” the source said.
Also, The FTC Media and Digital Officer, Mr Christain Freymeyer said that solely joining the CRS does not mean Nigeria would have access to all the data from whatever country it wants.
“This barrier to access is what we tried to highlight in the Unequal Exchange report.
“Because Nigeria isn’t entering until 2018, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t already have some exchange relationships set up.
“For example, Switzerland is not joining until 2018/2019, but they’ve already entered into preliminary exchange agreements with other countries in the CRS,” he said.
Analyst are of the view that one of the main problems of the CRS is the undemocratic process by which it has been designed and defined by the OECD, a club of developed countries.
They believe that it would make more sense to have a truly international and more representative institution like the “United Nations Tax Committee” to be in charge of the Country Reporting Standards.
They argue that an agreement or treaty that is not binding or compulsory should not be entered into. “Of what use is signing a treaty when i still have to negotiate with the other countries to share information with me. Isn’t that the reason i signed the treaty in the first place”?, an economist Amarachukwu Nwosu argued.
