Buhari wants corrupt leaders stopped from investing abroad

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday in London pledged to begin the full implementation of the principles of Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) in furtherance of his war against corruption in Nigeria.

In a statement at the Anti-Corruption Summit hosted by Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, Buhari also welcomed a proposal to restrict the ability of those involved in corruption to travel, invest and do business overseas.

The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) enables disclosure of data and documents at all stages of the public contract­ing process by defining a common data model and can support accessible and indepth analysis of the efficiency, effectiveness, fairness, and integrity of public contracting systems.

The president said the Federal Government would apply the OCDS to major projects in the oil, transportation, power, health, education and other sectors.

According to him, his administration was also taking steps to ensure greater transparency of the ownership and control of all companies involved in property purchase and public contract.

“Nigeria is already collating this information through the Extractive Industry Initiative process and will extend it to other sectors.

“Nigeria will establish a transparent central register of foreign companies bid­ding on public contracts and buying property. We welcome the proposal by developed countries to work together to improve the access of developing countries to beneficial ownership information for use in public contracting”, the president said.

“We are committed to joining the pilot initiative for automatic exchange of beneficial information. Nigeria commits to deploying public private information sharing partnerships to bring together governments, law enforcement, regulators and the financial sector to detect, prevent and disrupt money laundering linked to corruption.

“We commit to work together to enhance com­pany disclosure on the payments to governments for the sale of oil, gas and minerals, complementing ongoing work within the EITI.

“Nigeria is already reporting progress through the EITI working groups and will continue to work with interested countries to build a common understanding and strengthen the evidence for transparency in this area