The senator representing Kaduna central senatorial district in the National Assembly, Sen. Shehu Sani has expressed disapproval with the Federal Government’s plan to obtain names of Nigerian owners of foreign properties from the government of the host countries.
The President Muhammadu Buhari administration had disclosed that it was seeking assistance from UAE (Dubai), US and UK authorities to identify Nigerian owners of properties in those countries.
The countries is relying on a muliti-jurisdictional agreement known as the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEoI) to obtain the names following the alleged discovery of 13 properties secretly owned by Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu in the three countries.
The Minister of Finance recently disclosed that the Federal Government would seek the help of foreign nations to obtain information about assets held by Nigerians in foreign jurisdictions for possible naming, shaming and prosecution of tax defaulters.
But in a tweet on his verified personal Twitter handle on Saturday morning, Sani lamented the potential lack of transparency in obtaining the list.
He said that instead of obtaining a list of Nigerian property owners from the foreign governments, the Federal Government should support the foreign governments to publish the list so that everyone can access it.
He said, “I don’t support the FG asking the US,UK and Dubai authorities to give the FG the list of Nigerian properties owners in those countries. I’m in support of the FG asking those countries to openly publish their names. Transparency is with the later.”