The United States Embassy in Nigeria has confirmed that it issued a communiqué in which it affirmed that it does not have an agreement with Nigeria over the declaration of assets and budgetary transparency.
There had been reports that there is a rift with the US Government over President Goodluck Jonathan’s recent statement made during a recent media chat that he would not declare his assets publicly.
In an exclusive disclosure to LEADERSHIP, the US Embassy in Nigeria said, “This is a communiqué and not an agreement.? We have no comment.”
Media reports had on July 1 pointed that Jonathan’s statement of non-declaration of assets during his recent media chat was in violation of a recent Bi-National Commission (BNC) communiqué issued by Nigeria and the US at a meeting held on June 4-5 in Washington DC.
?While not denying the veracity of the reports, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement on Monday said that the commitment to budgetary transparency and accountability, including assets declaration by senior government officials, are different to agreements.
The statement read, “The is a world of difference between a communiqué, a mere summary of issue discussed in a meeting and an agreement, which is a legal binding document that defines obligations on the part of those covered by it.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there is no agreement Nigeria and the United States on public assets declaration.”
The? contentious part of the BNC communiqué read: “Both countries recognized the imperatives of all tiers of government in building a prosperous and just Nigeria, reaffirmed commitments to transparency and accountability from local to national levels that include strong transparency and engagement efforts.
“To support those commitments, Nigeria intends to widen its budgetary transparency efforts to include public assets declarations by parliamentarians and other senior public officials.”
?