The Federal Government of Nigeria has clarified that there are no clauses supporting LGBTQ rights in any articles of the Samoa Agreement, signed by Nigeria on June 28, 2024. This clarification came during a press briefing arranged by the Minister for Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, to address misinformation circulating in Nigerian media that the agreement contained clauses obligating Nigeria to support LGBTQ rights.<\/p>\n
Minister Idris, addressing the press, stated, \u201cLet me emphasize that the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will not in any way sign anything that goes against our constitutions, our laws, our culture, and our various faiths. Whatever has been done is in the interest of this country.\u201d<\/p>\n
To provide further clarification, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, explained the contents and significance of the agreement. He presented a copy of the agreement to the media, reiterating that it focuses on promoting sustainable development, combating climate change, generating employment, and fostering international collaboration among OACPS member states.<\/p>\n
Bagudu elaborated, \u201cThe Samoa Agreement, the post-Cotonou agreement, or the partnership agreement is a vital legal framework of operation between the OACPS and the European Union with the aim of promoting sustainable development, fighting climate change and its effect, generating employment opportunities, and fostering collaboration among OACPS member states at the international stage. The EU and all its 27 member states signed the Samoa Agreement on November 16, 2023. Out of the 79 members of the Organisation of Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific States, 74 have signed before the deadline of June 30, 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n
He further detailed that the agreement comprises 103 foundational articles and 79 African Regional Protocol articles, none of which mention LGBTQ rights. \u201cThe reviews conducted by the Ministries of Budget and Economic Planning, Foreign Affairs, and Justice confirm that none of those articles, which are the 103 foundational and 79 African Region-specific protocols, offend our constitution or laws. There is nowhere in those documents where LGBTQ is mentioned, even in passing,\u201d Bagudu assured.<\/p>\n
Bagudu also addressed concerns about Nigeria’s energy policies, stating, \u201cThe declaration that we signed along with the agreement clarified our position – not because we are in any doubt, but it clarified our position in regards to other areas, particularly in fossil fuels, because for example, the EU, in moving towards cleaner energy, they were careful in stating that we are a country blessed with oil and gas. So, to the extent that that agreement which we signed can be misconstrued as limiting our investment of further development of gas, that is incorrect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Explaining the origins of the Samoa Agreement, Bagudu noted, \u201cThe partnership between Nigeria and the Organisation of Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific States, OACPS, dates back to the Georgetown Agreement of 1975 which ended up serving as a framework for trade.\u201d He added that the finalised text for a new partnership agreement between the OACPS and EU was initialled on April 15, 2021, addressing specific regional issues through Africa-EU, Caribbean-EU, and Pacific-EU protocols.<\/p>\n
He concluded by reaffirming that the agreement respects Nigeria\u2019s constitution and laws. \u201cAnything that we signed within that agreement, in our interpretation, it must be in tandem with our constitution and laws, and to the extent that it is not, it is null and void,\u201d Bagudu stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Federal Government of Nigeria has clarified that there are no clauses supporting LGBTQ rights in any articles of the Samoa Agreement, signed by Nigeria on June 28, 2024. This clarification came during a press briefing arranged by the Minister for Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, to address misinformation circulating in Nigerian media that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5603"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5603"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5607,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5603\/revisions\/5607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}