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Samoa Agreement: Reps demand suspension as NBA faults same-sex allegation
The Nigerian Bar Association said on Tuesday that the Samoa Agreement had no prohibition against same-sex marriage, supporting the Federal Government's endorsement of the agreement.
Yakubu Maikyau (SAN), the president of the NBA, entered the debate around the agreement when the House of Representatives requested that the Federal Government halt the execution of the deal that the nation had signed on June 28, 2024.
The legislators decided to look into the deal as well.
The agreement, which was signed on November 15, 2023, by the European Union, its member states, and the African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries, is named after the Pacific island nation of Samoa. It creates a new legal framework for EU relations with 79 nations, including 48 African, 16 Caribbean, and 15 Pacific nations.
The agreement aims to strengthen the capacity of the EU and the ACP countries to address global challenges together.
The document establishes shared values and addresses six key areas of concern: human rights and democracy; climate change; human and social development; peace and security; and migration and mobility.
Human and social development, access to social services, education, health, food security and better nutrition, water, sanitation services, housing, social cohesion and protection, population and development, women's development, and youth involvement in the implementation of policies that affect them are among the other topics covered by the agreement.
Demography, culture and sustainable development, mutual understanding and cultural diversity, cultural heritage and the creative industries, mobilisation of sustainable and responsible investment, investment facilitation and protection, and other crucial topics were also covered by the collaboration.
A national newspaper said last week that the agreement included a provision allowing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer partnerships to be legalised in Nigeria. It further stated that the government committed to assisting same-sex relationships in order to get a $150 billion loan.
However, during a news conference in Abuja on Saturday, the Ministers of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, and Information, Mohammed Idris, categorically denied the accusation.
Idris vowed to pursue the publication before the Ombudsman and into court.
Claiming that the collaboration with the EU aims to tackle unique concerns of each region based on internationally recognised laws, conventions, and treaties applicable to the parties, Bagudu refuted the claim that the pact had an LGBTQ component.
"The collaboration between Nigeria and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States dates back to the Georgetown Agreement of 1975, which brought together countries in Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific for the establishment of a framework for trade and development cooperation with the European Union as one of its objectives.
The OACPS-EU Cotonou Agreement made it possible to invest over €1.7 billion in grant aid to Nigeria alone through the EDF's ninth, tenth, and eleventh funding rounds between 2000 and 2020.
"A recent survey reveals that during the Agreement, over 5,000 micro-project interventions in the areas of water, sanitation, energy, education, health, and other areas were carried out in about 4,800 communities in Nigeria."
The NBA president did, however, explain the parameters of the agreement by stating in a statement that the Samoa Agreement was based on local laws and that it acknowledges Nigeria's Same-sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act, 2023.
He clarified that the NBA was a member of the group that reviewed and scrutinised the agreement, and that the organisation would have notified the federal government if the purported restrictions had been included.
"As a major stakeholder in the polity, the Hon. Minister of Budget and Economic Planning requested that the NBA take a look at the Samoa Agreement," the statement stated.
As a result, I established a committee to review, assess, and provide advice on the agreement. The group is led by Mr. Olawale Fapohunda (SAN), a former Attorney General, Commissioner for Justice, and Chairman of the NBA Law Reform Committee in Ekiti State.
NBA's position
"More than half of the 79 countries of the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States are parties to the Samoa Agreement, which is a comprehensive legal framework between EU member states.
It is intended to act as a foundation for future specific agreements that the European Union and the Federal Government, its subnationals, and/or the business sector can negotiate.
"Democracy and human rights, human and social development, climate change, peace and security, and migration and mobility" are the six primary topics covered by the pact.
Maikyau clarified that he was made aware of the agreement's incorrect disclosure, namely the alleged same-sex section.
"My attention was drawn to publications in newspapers and social media platforms, to reactions by some Nigerians to the Federal Government's signing of the Samoa Agreement; the purported clauses in the agreement prohibiting Nigeria from refusing to endorse or accept LGBTQ rights, as a prerequisite to accessing an alleged $150 billion loan facility," he continued.
"I wish to state that there is no provision in the Samoa Agreement which requires Nigeria to accept or in any way recognise LGBTQ or gay rights, either as a pre-condition for a loan of $150 billion or at any other time. This is in contrast to the narrative being propagated, which may be the result of ignorance of the agreement's content or of a deliberate intention to mislead the public—neither of which is good.
Rather, the agreement was specifically established to be subject to national sovereignty and local laws. In other words, the Samoa agreement acknowledges certain laws, such as Nigeria's Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act, 2023, and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) Constitution as supreme.
"Had this not been the case, the NBA would have immediately counselled the Federal Government against entering into or participating in any arrangement or collaboration that could compromise our country's sovereignty in any manner.
The statement clarified, "For the avoidance of any doubt, the Samoa Agreement does not, in any way, seek to compromise our existing legislations or undermine Nigeria's sovereignty."
Mikyau implored the parties involved to inform the public on the true contents of the agreement.
According to him, the negative narratives of the agreement were being pushed and propagated along very sensitive lines of faith, culture and morality, and thus, there is a need for caution and proper education.
In order to combat the unfavourable impression being spread about the deal, he also urged the Federal Government to keep up the public education campaign that is already underway.
Representatives want to be suspended.
However, in an effort to provide further clarification, the House of Representatives asked the federal government to halt the Samoa Agreement's implementation due to the purported LGBTQ clause on Tuesday.
Within four weeks, the chamber instructed its Committee on National Planning to look into the arrangement and submit a report for potential legislative action.
The House resolution was a follow-up to a motion of urgent public significance that Deputy Minority Leader Aliyu Madaki and 87 other members of the House brought out during plenary on the green chamber floor.
After the motion was approved, the House called on the Federal Government to “Suspend the implementation of the Samoa Agreement until all controversial clauses are clearly defined to make sure they do not violate any law in Nigeria.”
The Committees on National Planning and Economic, Development, Justice, Treaties, Protocol, and Agreements were also required to communicate with each other and provide a report to the House in a span of four weeks.
The House is concerned that the agreement "allegedly has some clauses that compel underdeveloped and developing nations to support the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer community as a condition for getting financial and other supports from advanced societies," according to Madaki, who made the case for the motion.
"No treaty, convention, agreement, or arrangement of any kind between one or more member-states of Europe and one or more OACPS members shall impede the implementation of this agreement," he said, expressing concern for the Agreement's supremacy clause and thus violates Nigeria’s sovereignty.
"We are concerned that certain other articles in the Samoa Agreement, which was signed by the Federal Government, particularly Articles 25, 29.5, 36.2, and 88, may be detrimental to Nigeria's national interest and the values of our people as a whole, and moreover, it does not contain a reservation clause."
He claims that "Parties shall systematically promote a gender perspective and ensure that gender equality is mainstreamed across all countries," as stated in Article 2.5.
Gender no longer refers to the two sexes—male and female—as has long been believed, and gender equality, as reported, is a Trojan horse for sneakily introducing all kinds of immorality into our nation. It currently encompasses animalism, transgenderism, lesbianism, and homosexuality.
What worries the House is that the signing of such an agreement with