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In the last year, President Bola Tinubu’s administration has obtained 250 convictions in terrorism-related cases, said the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi.
Fagbemi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), made the disclosure in Abuja on Friday while presenting the achievements of the Federal Ministry of Justice from May 2023 to 2024.
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President Tinubu earlier directed all 47 members of his cabinet to present their performance reports to Nigerians in commemoration of the government’s first anniversary in office.
Reviewing the achievements of the government in the justice sector, Mr. Fagbemi said a functional justice system remains the foundation of socio-economic and political development of every nation.
“In furtherance of the Ministry’s mandate to enhance national security through prosecution, the Ministry obtained 160 convictions for criminal offences, 87 convictions for terrorism cases and 3 new convictions for extremist terrorist actors involved in the radicalization of children and violence against women”. he said.
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Anti corruption
Speaking on President Tinubu’s efforts to combat corruption, the Minister of Justice said he highlighted the adoption of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS), which he described as a “major positive development” in the fight against corruption.
Mr. Fagbemi explained that the implementation of the strategy has generated “modest achievements, such as greater transparency with the growth of initiatives such as freedom of information, beneficial ownership disclosure, open contracting, and routine evaluations of the corruption risk to determine vulnerabilities to corruption, including system reviews to address the anomaly from the recorded roots.”
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In terms of efforts to recover stolen government assets, the minister said his office facilitated the asset sharing agreement between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Bailiwick of Jersey.
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He revealed that the agreement was signed in February 2024 for the return of £2,125,944 as proceeds of corruption.
Similarly, Fagbemi said that in April 2024 his office concluded negotiations for a settlement agreement with Glencore International AG in which Glencore is expected to pay the sum of $50 million as fine and compensation for certain activities in Nigeria.
He said that in the last year the government witnessed a landmark decision in an arbitration brought against Nigeria by Process and Industrial Development Limited, in which a UK commercial court set aside an arbitration award of more than $11 billion, awarded against Nigeria in the United Kingdom for non-compliance. of a gas supply and processing agreement.
Mr Fagbemi said that “due to the concerted efforts of our legal team, Nigeria has been awarded interim costs in the sum of £20 million against P&ID.”
In the reporting period, the minister revealed that the Ministry of Justice heard and responded to a total of 625 cases brought against the government before the state, federal and ECOWAS courts.
He added that the ministry received and responded to 593 requests for legal advice and petitions from May 2023 to date.
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“In total, the Ministry obtained 235 sentences from May 2023 to date.”
Fagbemi, who assumed office as Attorney General and Minister of Justice on August 21, 2023, has before him the onerous task of driving key reforms in Nigeria’s judicial system.
With rampant corruption and a weak legal system, many cases (criminal and civil) remain stuck in court for endless years, especially trials involving politically exposed persons.
However, the Tinubu-led government recently held a national conference on justice sector reform in Abuja with a view to addressing the myriad challenges that have made justice elusive for the Nigerian population.
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