Nigeria is one the countries in the world where over N700 trillion ($2 trillion) is lost to corruption yearly, and an international association the country belongs to has outlined a framework to help member countries investigate and prosecute corruption offences.
\nSecretary-General of the Commonwealth, Patricia Scotland, disclosed that the Commonwealth Anti-Corruption Benchmarks\u00a0framework is currently being developed by the Secretariat in consultation with member countries. The framework would provide clear steps to promote integrity and combat graft within public and private sectors.
\nThe Secretary-General was speaking at the fifth annual regional meeting of the Caribbean heads of anti-corruption agencies. The meeting is holding in the Cayman Islands and will end Friday, 7th June.
\nShe said: \u201cThis package consists of a set of 22 benchmarks, covering topics from sanctions for corruption offences to investigating and prosecuting authorities, and from political lobbying to the disclosure of asset ownership.
\n\u201cEach benchmark is defined by a principle and contains detailed guidance for meeting the set level of achievement.
\n\u201cThe principles and guidance are consistent with international standards, and if adopted would go further in covering other areas of concern not previously addressed.\u201d
\nThis is the first such framework to cover all areas of the public and private conduct. It is expected to be considered by the Commonwealth Heads of Governments in Rwanda next year.
\nAt present, five Commonwealth Caribbean countries – the Bahamas, Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica and St. Lucia \u2013 rank among the 50 least\u00a0corrupt countries in the world, while none sit among the top 20 most corrupt.
\nPatricia Scotland said: \u201cThe Commonwealth\u2019s leadership and cooperation contribute to this [achievement], which brings member countries together, recognising that we are all at our strongest when we combine our efforts.
\n\u201cThe Commonwealth has been active in providing technical assistance and development support for national anti-corruption agencies to build their effectiveness in dealing with graft.\u201d
\nHowever, the Secretary-General stressed that the work of anti-corruption agencies must continue with renewed vigour in order to fully achieve the 16 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
\nIn this context, the Secretary-General also referred to the Commonwealth\u2019s practical toolkit designed to help countries plan, track and coordinate SDGs implementation more effectively.
\nThe meeting brings together the Caribbean\u2019s most senior officials tasked with thwarting illicit financial flows. This year\u2019s focus is based around the theme: \u2018Transforming words into action: revitalising the fight against corruption\u2019.\u00a0Panel discussions will cover areas such as corruption in sports, modernising legislative frameworks, the investigative battle against corruption and new technologies to combat graft.
\nThe Cayman Islands\u2019 Governor, Martyn Roper, said that the Commonwealth is \u201cthe source of good\u201d to an increasingly divided world.
\nHe added: \u201cThe Cayman Islands have made great strides towards developing and implementing policies within the civil service and strengthening our integrity oversight bodies over the last few years.
\n\u201cThis meeting, therefore, comes at an opportune time for the Cayman Islands to intensify its enhancement of the ethical integrity of its public bodies.\u201d
\nAt the meeting, officials will review their national anti-graft efforts, exchange experiences and improve understanding of the advanced techniques and procedures. They will enhance their knowledge in forensics, financial accounting and asset tracking, as well as prosecutions, public awareness and prevention.
\nLooking forward, the adviser and head of the Commonwealth\u2019s public sector governance unit, Dr Roger Koranteng, said: \u201cAnti-graft bodies in the Commonwealth Caribbean will emerge from the meeting as strong watchdog institutions with a more coherent response to corruption and transparency problems in the region to achieve the SDG 16.\u201d
\nThe Commonwealth has organised the meeting in collaboration with the Cayman Islands\u2019 Commission for Standards in Public Life and the Association of Integrity Commissions and Anti-Corruption Bodies in the Caribbean.
\nThe association\u2019s chairman, Dirk Harrison, thanked the Commonwealth Secretariat for its continuing assistance and for its current work in developing the anti-corruption benchmarks framework.
\nIn 2015, the association was established to leverage the Commonwealth\u2019s convening power to boost south-south learning and sharing of practices among the countries of the southern hemisphere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nigeria is one the countries in the world where over N700 trillion ($2 trillion) is lost to corruption yearly, and an international association the country belongs to has outlined a framework to help member countries investigate and prosecute corruption offences. Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Patricia Scotland, disclosed that the Commonwealth Anti-Corruption Benchmarks\u00a0framework is currently being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":18477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18476\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}