Benin City — A broad coalition of civil society organizations in Nigeria has called on the Federal Government to publish details of its $50 million settlement with Glencore International A.G., a transnational commodity and mining company, and ensure transparency in applying the fund to benefit the populations affected by the sleaze.
Rev. David Ugolor, Executive Director, Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ); Monday Osasah, Executive Director, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (CENTRE LSD; Tijani Abdulkareem, Executive Director, Socio-Economic Research and Development Centre (SERDEC); Tijah Bolton Akpan, Executive Director, Policy Alert; and Edem Edem, National Coordinator, Green Concern for Development (GREENCODE) made the call in a communiqué.
The CSOs posited: "To ensure the credibility of Nigeria's $50 million compensation deal with Glencore, there must be full transparency on the agreement, the Attorney General, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) announced. It is also essential to have robust safeguards to ensure the fund benefits communities affected by corruption."
"We, therefore, urge the Federal Government to engage with a wide range of stakeholders, including civil society and affected communities, to develop mechanisms for the transparent and accountable disbursement of funds to redress the harms of Glencore's corruption.
"Glencore's agreement to pay $50 million as a 'penalty and compensation' is a welcome recognition of the company's obligation to repair the harms caused by the corruption of public officials in Nigeria.
"This settlement comes two years after Glencore's global coordinated resolution with US, UK, and Brazilian authorities for its vast bribery scheme, which spanned over a decade and affected more than seven countries on two continents.
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"In Nigeria alone, Glencore and its subsidiaries paid more than $52 million to intermediaries to bribe officials to secure special oil deals.
"While Glencore has paid over $1.1 billion in financial penalties globally, justice is not complete without reparations for the corrosive harms of corruption. To date, none of the authorities in the UK, US, or Brazil, which had issued major fines against Glencore, have offered compensation to affected countries like Nigeria, and should urgently take steps to do so."
Executive Director of ANEEJ), Rev David Ugolor told Vanguard: "We have consistently insisted that Glencore and other corrupt foreign companies using bribery and corruption to undermine our country's development take the responsibility, and the Nigerian government should, in line with the Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) principles, disclose any settlement with Glencore.
