London is live mohammed the countrys information minister how does he defend against the countrys many critics when the evidence of wrongdoing is so compelling. Like mohammed welcome to comfort zone thank you for the human rights record of your administration has been widely condemned by the un western countries your own Lawyers International human rights bodies for brutality and the stunning lack of accountability why do you say this go on in the june why didnt you get a grip on this i think theres been a lot of. Misrepresentation. By all these groups absolutely really working concert well i already know theyre working constant theyre working you know a little but i know for a fact that dissension in particular has been very sensitive to the issue of human rights most sometimes terrorists politicians attributes i confused with human rights so you put it all down to confusion i would do that because i do not know as a fact ive been minister for almost 5 years that this any policy of my mistress. Deliberately targeted at infringing on anybodys rights missed the last september the un special rapporteur on extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions agnus kalama she launched a damning report on nigeria im sorry and the human rights abuses of your Security Forces she said that she spoke of countrywide patterns of abuses include the police militarys excessive use of lethal lethal force in violation of a Political International standards im sure you read the report and she is not a person who makes these accusations lightly indeed i did but i would up been much more impressed if example was. I given now you must not forget that then you has been locked in a war of attrition with a book for almost a decade and the kind of. War we are fighting is a war amongst people. And. Even then the military has been very careful to ensure that as much as possible writes i know about it now ive also read about the reports of people who claim that there are them balloted simply because they have been arrested by any of the security agencies and theyve been asked to go through or due process but i support to see this government does nobody tell him what is right if its not a matter of policy why have there been so few investigations the un investigator spoke about the absence of meaning effective investigations the absence of meaningful prosecution all of which are compounded she said by the lack of transparency over the vast majority of Security Issues that accusation about lack of transparency and Effective Communication strategy goes straight to your door minister doesnt it you are the minister of information serious criticism here but what i do know as a fact that. Several keys of abuse of you know rights. Against soldiers have not only be investigated but people have been punished and have been made public how many how many people i dont know off yet but i knew the minister of information was of course i cant know everything but i knew for i know that the military or so is very jealous of his reputation and they have set up many. Piles and i think that officer ive been dismissed or imprisoned. The International Criminal court isnt isnt impressed by a record that says in 20000 there was a reasonable basis to believe that the nigerian Security Forces committed the war crimes of murder torture cruel treatment outrages upon personal dignity and intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population but you have failed to cooperate with investigators and failed to provide information that they requested and if you take these things seriously and you cannot but take the word of the International Criminal Court Seriously you would have provided that information why didnt you how would you know what information they are asking for a lot provided by another we did cooperate in with a brief history when it comes to they said they werent they werent getting help from you they werent getting the information they nor the the i. C. C. Met with the authorities in a korea and we would have no choice but to cooperate theyve been waiting for years to get your cooperation and it hasnt come minister maybe youre out of the loop here what maybe you dont have information about whats going on in your own government and very. Informed or go so my government and ourselves at least i do take the trouble to ask and. Im not im not aware that we have we dont our cooperation from the s. M. T. Robbery squad or sars you said you wanted specific examples is a specific examples theyve been accused of widespread torture in some cases leading to deaths in custody and extra judicial killings so the unit is clearly out of control isnt it because the Un Human Rights Committee warned your government to ensure that this group operates in accordance with International Standards because they dont trust that its doing that at the moment why would that be i guess that i think im aware of that and at a point in time when the support came out the sas was disbanded and or little bill constituted and you know werent that henceforth they must. Be sure that they operated within the confines of the know your own National Human Rights Commission investigated their activities and even held public hearings but the results were never published were. Not aware of them are not aware that i was on what are published and i took my assumption has to be that youre covering up damaging evidence doesnt it which you are afraid i dont think we have comparable in the media some police men were dismissed their targets science was disbanded and reorganized there after. Minister on the question of providing information to outside investigators you failed to provide information to the u. N. Under the International Covenant on civil and Political Rights which nigeria has signed last august the treaty body accused you of failing to honor your reporting obligations under article 40 of the covenant and ignoring numerous reminders to do so why is that when you tell me your cooperating so openly with these bodies why would they say that what the housing true i want to know that they will say that but i know that we have never shown any internationalization we are very open as to the facts those who are not her she will be used much as possible for any country who is in no way gene and in turn out you know who supplied the internet you know is so jesse very open and we we operate with international you know regulations and laws well clearly you dont go into the bodies that monitor these situations well it depends upon it it depends on from which perspective theyre getting the information where theyre getting it from different perspectives on them were talking about human rights organizations International Human rights organizations were talking about the u. N. Were talking about. All kinds of bodies the International Criminal court theyre all saying the same thing that youre not cooperating and you sit here in front in front of me minister says about simply not true its like saying its dark in this outside when we can see its very like no no no i think that knowledge is not correct i ignore the daily we receive we entity and we engage all of these bodies. As a government and youre not going to move from that version despite the evidence that i have. Yet to see anybody any evidence that them. That is so very american white as if israel instead of not responded to it when you talked about a sus yes i admitted that yes it would be presumably part and we took action mr whether or not stonewalling on requests for information or taking radio stations of the air and having reporters arrested or beaten june last year you tried shutting down nigerias oldest private t. V. Channel as well as radio stations owned by a member of the opposition p. D. P. Rayment dock pacey a federal court overturned your suspension but the Nigerian Guild of editors called this a barbaric crackdown on free speech why are you launching a barbaric crackdown on free speech things a lot of ignorance and a lot of this chief geddis is going over there talking about all read the press is station was closed down because he ordered the National Read little not because of the news he was pushing out and in january last year soldiers raided the offices of one of your leading papers the daily trust of the arrested reporters in march a journalists had been held for 2 years was rearrested you rank 100 and 20th out of 180 countries in the press freedom in the acts of Reporters Without Borders its not a glorious record is it than still well as i think when it comes to the level of the press. Were doing extremely very well and if papers run foul of the law the must be the consequences but when you have back to the 100 newspapers in a country i know a 2nd example one is pivotal squadron with here i think should be fair to us that we have a very Robust Free Press Amnesty International says that between january and september last year at least 19 journalists and media practitioners were attacked those attacks and clude verbal and physical assault and indiscriminate arrest and detention by your Security Forces in the impression ministers therefore that your aims seems to be to stifle freedom of expression especially critical voices you dont like criticism thats the caret is it because i think many of these people dont live on that dont know the eco system of the media in injury virtually every major you know print media is owned by individuals and i can tell you that this they had a list of all 12 not the newspapers and trust dilip trust i thought i dont remember what the story was but you cannot take the example of one newspaper among about 20 to say that the country is stifling the media on the contrary at a point in time i thought that was the government was actually at the receiving end of the media what has also worried people enormously his decision to submit a bill which in its original form would have seen anyone convicted of socalled hate speech actually sentenced to death by hanging on the particular circumstances you actually wanted and you sort authorization from parliament to kill people because of something they said why would you do a thing like that extraordinary and shocking provision added what it is. Even there also people there is what is cause oppression of power. In or in most major democracies these particular be talking about is it built of pretend not by designating a budget i just wish but instead of im a government so how can you accuse the. You summited you submitted as we did not as a source of the sort of ignorance we did not this this is a private members bill by a senator we just the you have and youre telling me you didnt want it to go through is that we do have a choice in which the bills go through or not the bill has been discussed this public airing what is it the government does not commonly do when the bill of the past and you didnt use any influence to get the top thought out or absolutely none if this bill had gone through minister a journalist could have been jailed for any article didnt threatening abusive or insulting and could have been hung if their work caused any loss of life what you didnt object to this bill that you ignored as it as it is is the what is called doctrine of the penal power. The only thing you can do as president is refuse your asset such a lot the last blood been passed the blood what would not or did it but desire to keep the law is still going through the senate so hung that how did i just miss the president stopped it would have been accused of no dictatorship and muslim the you telling me you wouldnt have signed the law with that provision in it i think this you can tell me that caylee had been speculative you can tell us why when we when we get when we get that bridge right across it would look at what are the contents of that law in what form will it be passed but you see people rushed in order to history to judge to judgement you cant if we dont have one who said we submitted that thats bill we did not we know nothing of that and wanted submitted. We dont micromanage the Parliament Building what about the protection from internet for sword and manipulations bill also carrying draconian provisions on the journalist could be imprisoned for publishing content all the author of that bill are you against this bill will not im not even aware of that bill youre not of the protection from internet force or the manipulations bill youre not even aware of nowhere bit so i cannot because it is causing its causing an outcry internationally and you are the minister of information and i have nothing about as nor thought bill before the hawking about the prohibition of hate speech bill and the protection from internet falso the manipulations bill they said these bills contain extremely harsh penalties that violate International Law and are likely to be used to gag the media in your saying you know nothing about the doctors saying with you were wrong in saying that the desert him submitted the hate speech bill mr lets talk about. Corruption because in your country it seems to begin with the government doesnt and the International Center for investigative reporting said last year that among 9 countries in Subsaharan Africa nigeria has the worst managed Sovereign Wealth Fund based on accountability transparency and oversight wise a record so bad the absolutely false. Absolutely false report by the National Resource institutes Africa Office based on data from 2017 said you had failed to regularly disclose publicly the financial interests of government officials in the extractive sector or the identities of Beneficial Owners of extractive companies despite making public commitments to do so the subsidy forces the 1st to do the 1st obligation as a minister a public official is way too little it probably declare ration of oil assets. And any minister or public official who does not do so risks being prosecuted and we know many who are not being prosecuted as a result of that too is to the credit of this administration that only a few months ago we passed you know we put in bill in place a policy that compels every ministry every department to make public any expenditure above 10000 pounds saw that the public can challenge what is being spent for is also good of a position that no government has ever succeeded in securing the condition of high profile politicians and some strachan has paid those of them who belong to the William Party we continue to fight corruption because and you for and you follow the rules do absolutely so in 2018 why in towards the close of president bush his 1st wives in the Auditor General himself raise serious concerns about the socalled excess crude account that you have this is an oil savings account which holds dollar reserves from crude oil that are sold above the assumed benchmark price and in july that year the Auditor General warned you to bring your handling of this account into line with the more why if you tell me you follow the rules did he feel the need to say thats it precisely because. He said it shows how to correct their decision is the other there are is an appointee of just how shocking he thinks your behavior actually is no us nor on the contrary really shows the level of transparency in demonstration that an appointee of got plenty cant say this i yet retain his job he noted there have been doctrines from the account which appeared to have been made illegally in other words deductions that apparently violated constitutional provisions why would that be and why would he say that if youre following the rules as you tell me you are everywhere in the world to live in the most well known democracies you have what it is generous you have what would it be generous yes yes and their duty is to monitor the excesses of government not the part that is allowed to do the job and the sciri mince in office i think its a testament to the fact that were in a bit of bread you know and station the effect if the mystery of all congratulations for that always referred to i am going for as good as or as i get from you as as i was supposed to know not just as im from the Auditor General who says you are not in line with the law but with that you dont think that matters outside you destroy the. To the correctness or not of that you know. The fact that he can make that allegation submit it is bill clinton and his team we need a doctor and i think its that will not happen in a day and station that does not believe interest me says the audit team could find no Legal Authority for even the existence of this excess crude account so its a sham and a slush fund isnt it but i dont buy dont you admit it and well take you up theres no legal basis for this for this account and you know i dont think its correct to say that this normally would be as well because the. Court could access a cult ive known about it even before we came to government. It said the audit team could find no Legal Authority for even the existence of this excess crude account how come you didnt order persistent warnings from the Auditor General as he said year after year not just your government but the previous one going back to 2007 to bring this in line with the law again you tell me you follow the rules but its not backed up by the Auditor General we follow the rules and like even that allegation even that arthur is correct the all idea of an Auditor General is to point out to you what you had to do wrong unfortunately to write i dont see any gobbling deewar that is all we always follow the law will always do everything correctly but as you get the fund that that original recommended the report and nothing has happened is still an office yes and what you continue to make illegal deductions from the account what a deposit what you made a good look at the illegal doctrine deductions that violated constitutional provisions its not easy if a government valis concessional provision it is the little ditty of the parliament to take appropriate action i dont believe that we do sponsibility the government if it cares about the peoples money to mend its ways and oh of course and will but thats if you have believe that you have even the little of the laws but i want some sense that yes they are today out of alfonso my normal is the all essence of what are the genera everywhere and what that will be checks and balances are not as does what will put it out here is that there are some regularities and then the appropriate you know i am of god plenty who did it for so what are you going to do in future about this show it has been iffy what are you going to do if those allegations are true and has been taken care of but hasnt been in these been reporting and complaining about the governments attitude to the supply since 2007 well just as the un has been complaining that you havent been giving information about. And excesses of violence used by your Security Forces as the International Criminal court has been complaining all these complaints are piling up minister what are you going to do in the future when we stonewall we look at every calm place we look at our think there and we take action like ive told you there have been several yes many military officers are been guilty some have been dismissed and its now interests Global Witness says despite a 50 year all boom which transformed nigerias economy into the largest in africa 80 percent of your people live on less than 2. 00 a day they say that an estimated 400000000000. 00 has gone missing from state coffers are going to tell the people of nigeria where that money has gone. And our watch between 205029000 nobody closer suffered in such allegation and i can only speak for when i became minister and i can see a girl thats between 1015 and 20 nobody can talk about all the money missing. My mama thanks very much for being so thank you very much. Not. Were all set. To go beyond beyond them so. Were all about the stories that matter to you. Really. Whatever it takes. No running around trying. To change a little nothing d. W. For made for mines. The global corona traces you can find more Information Online at e. W. Dot com and on t. W. Social media channels. A duel with words. Where i come from we dont run away from a call from television. When i was 5 years old my father took me to his friends about whats called on the spot. A sport that you love soul and to see his soul. Fencing as a language and a good source for it is a conversation. Must go opponents understand that thinking new of them aimed to get close otherwise and consecrate. Its not unlike a tough interview really when interviewing politicians all corporate c. E. O. s you have to wait for the right moment just to get around that defensive moves then make you feel. Yes and take risks to get results. Im going out alphas and i work a d w. How does a virus spread. Why do we panic and when well all miss. Just 3 of the topics that we cover and the weekly radio show is called spectrum if you would like any information on the coronavirus or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast you can get it wherever you get your podcasts you can also find us at. Science. This is g w news wyvern from berlin tonight in the unprecedented fight against the coronavirus german chancellor Angela Merkel calls for unprecedented solidarity. The situation is serious take it seriously since german unification not since the 2nd world war there has been no challenge to
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