Govt faults media report on Samoa pact, petitions ombudsman

THE Federal Executive Council ( FEC), at its seventh session yesterday, deliberated on the report authored by a national daily on the controversial Samoa agreement, where the cabinet members took turns to totally condemn it.

Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who made the disclosure while briefing newsmen after their closeddoo meeting, said a complaint had been lodged with the ombudsman, Nigerian Press Council to compel the newspaper to refrain from circulating false and misleading information. He regretted that the report had misled some Nigerians to come up with various insinuations.

Specifically in the report, the medium had claimed that the Federal Government signed an agreement with clauses requiring Nigeria to endorse the rights of Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex ( LGBTQI+) people.

It also said Nigeria would pocket $ 150 billion for endorsing the deal.

The pact, generally referred to as the Samoa Agreement, was signed on June 28 this year at the Organisation of Africa, Caribbean and Pacific States ( OACPS) Secretariat in Brussels, Belgium.

Details of the agreement indicated that the partnership is between the European Union and its member states on one hand, and members of OACPCS on the other. Negotiations on the agreement began in 2008, and it was signed on November 15, 2008 by all 27 EU member states and 47 of the 79 OACPS states.

The African Regional Protocol on the matter consists of two parts – framework for cooperation and areas of cooperation that include inclusive and sustainable economic growth, environmental and human rights p r o t e c t i o n .