Financial Transparency Coalition

In January of next year Nigerians will head to the polls to elect their next president. Nigeria’s exercise in democracy has so far lasted slightly over a decade, beginning with the country’s transition to civilian government in 1999 after a long period of military rule punctured with failed stabs at democracy. To alleviate ethnic and religious divisions, the current system includes a power-sharing agreement between the Muslim North and Christian South. By law, each term should alternate between a Northerner and Southerner, though the last three presidents have muddled the intended fluctuations. There are those who claim this election will...

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal requires countries to cooperate to achieve environmentally sound management of hazardous waste and builds a framework for controlling cross-border movements of waste. According to Convention requirements “every company or broker wishing to export hazardous wastes to ask the Government of the exporting State to provide prior written notification” to authorities in the importing State. The importing country must then give written consent before the export can take place. In addition, each approved shipment must be accompanied by a “movement document” that...

Paul Collier of Oxford is speaking at the Task Force – he chairs its economists panel. One third of Africa’s wealth is outside Africa he says. If returned that would increase its capital by 50%. And as he notes the social return on capital on that in Africa would be vastly, vastly more in Africa than it could ever be outside because capital is so scarce in Africa. And as he also points out – the true cost of corruption is the defeat of honest politicians...

Abuja — Federal Government on Tuesday declared that despite the achievements recorded, the sector still has a lot of challenges to battle with.