The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has called on the Federal Government to propose immediate amendments to the Samoa Agreement or withdraw from it if the amendments are not accepted. In a statement titled “Threats to the Sovereignty and Values of Nigeria in the Samoa Agreement,” signed by CBCN President Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji and CBCN Secretary Bishop Donatus A. Ogun, the bishops expressed concern over the agreement’s implications on Nigeria’s national sovereignty and values.
The CBCN highlighted that the Samoa Agreement contains post-modern secularistic ideologies that undermine Nigeria’s moral, cultural, and religious beliefs. The bishops emphasized the need for the government to address these concerns urgently.
The Samoa Agreement, a successor to the Lomé Convention of 1975 and the Cotonou Agreement of 2000, was signed by 44 out of 79 ACP states on November 15, 2023. Nigeria initially did not sign due to concerns over sovereignty and African values but eventually signed on June 28, 2024, before the Nigeria-EU business summit in Abuja.
The CBCN stressed the importance of Nigeria’s role in upholding African values and warned that signing the agreement without addressing contentious provisions undermines Nigeria’s longstanding objections in international forums. They called for transparency and caution, urging the government to amend or withdraw from the agreement to protect Nigeria’s sovereignty and values.
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