Lateef Fagbemi, the minister of justice and Attorney General of the Federation, on Friday, disclosed that the President Bola Tinubu-led administration faced a total of 625 court cases in the past 12 months.

The minister, who made this disclosure while presenting the scorecard of his ministry as part of activities to mark the first year of Tinubu’s administration, said the legal actions were instituted before States, Federal and ECOWAS Court.

“In the reporting period, a total of 625 cases instituted against the President, federal government and its agencies, before states, federal and ECOWAS Court were served and responded by the ministry.

Fagbemi disclosed further that the Ministry succeeded in saving the country from huge debt liabilities and achieved successes under its international asset recovery, foreign contracts and management efforts.

He said an asset sharing agreement between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Bailiwick of Jersey was signed in February, 2024 for the return of £2,125,944 proceeds of corruption.

The funds, he said has been approved by the President to be utilized for continuation of works on the Abuja-Kano Road project.

He further informed that the Ministry on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on April 25, 2024 concluded negotiation of a Settlement Agreement with Glencore International A.G. wherein Glencore is expected to pay the sum of $50 million USD as penalty and compensation for certain activities in Nigeria,” he added.

It would be recalled that Glencore was fined the sum of £276.4 million by a United Kingdom Court in 2022 for bribing Nigerian officials to gain favorable crude oil trading contracts.

On the ease of doing business, the minister said the ministry has streamlined the guidelines for the incorporation of companies limited by guarantee.

He said his ministry issued a total of 1,432 approvals for the registration of companies limited by guarantee in the last one year.

Speaking further on some of the activities and achievements of agencies under the Ministry of Justice, Fagbemi said the National Human Rights Commission handled a total of 2,849,203 complaints from the public on various human rights issues.

Additionally, he said the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, in the past 11 months, recorded seizure of approximately 959,917.30 kg of illicit drugs, arrested 13,798 suspected drug traffickers, and secured the conviction of 3,247 drug offenders. (BusinessDay)

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