Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami SAN has directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies to transmit to the National Depository of Treaties domiciled in Federal Ministry of Justice all executed agreements, Memoranda of Understanding, and treaties in their
custody and those to be entered in the future in their original form.
The Minister who spoke in Abuja on Tuesday at the commissioning ceremony
of the National Depository of Treaties said the directive is ” in further compliance with the Service wide, Circular Reference No. HCSF/LU/FEC/M/938 dated 2nd March, 2017 issued by the head of the civil service of the Federation as directed by the Federal Executive Council.”
Expressing the hope ” that very soon the National Depository of Treaties will be in the cloud for a more global outlook and accessibility from any part of the world,” Malami added that ” It is about transparency, accessibility and order in line with the tenements of Open Government Partnership and access to justice which the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to uphold.”
He stressed that “The goals of this noble project are to:
(i) Achieve functional National Depository of Treaties
(ii) Maintain a comprehensive/updated Register of Treaties
(iii) Ensure that all Treaties, Agreement and Protocols entered into
by the Government are preserved.”
The Minister appreciated the efforts of the Solicitor General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Dayo Apata, SAN for his support and also commended the various roles played by the Director, International and Comparative Law Department, Mrs. Stella Anukam towards the actualization of the project.
Also speaking during the commissioning, the Solicitor General of the Federation said “By Section 4 of the Treaties
(Making Procedure, Etc.) Act 2004, the Federal Ministry of Justice has
been designated the depository of all treaties entered into between
the Federation and any other country.
- “Accordingly, all treaties entered into before the commencement
of the Act between the Government of the Federation and any other country by any Ministry, governmental agency, body or person, shall be deposited with the Federal Ministry of Justice for record purposes.It is also the duty of the Federal Ministry of Justice to prepare and maintain a register of treaties. The register is open at all reasonable times for inspection by members of the public on the payment of such token fee as may be determined from time to time.”
He added that “The Federal Ministry of Justice to the exclusion of any other
Ministry or authority has power to give notification on the conclusion
of any new treaty to the Federal Government Printer for purposes of
publication.”
The Solicitor General said ” The electronic depository of treaties is one of the ways, the Federal Ministry of Justice is utilizing in taking advantage of technology to make accessibility to the depository easy and faster.”