The controversial Samoa Agreement has become a topic of discussion for many Nigerians as they wonder what it entails since the news that Nigeria has signed.

On November 15, 2023, the European Union and member states came together to sign one new partnership agreement, which was referred to as the Samoa Agreement.

The member states that signed the agreement are called the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, also known as OACPS.

About 27 member states from the EU signed the agreement and 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries came together to also sign the agreement.

According to the European Council, the Samoa Agreement is the overarching framework for European Union (EU) relations with African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries.

The foundation agreement was signed on November 15, 2023, and took effect January 1, 2024, to serve as a new legal framework for EU relations with 79 countries collectively forming the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS). It will last for an initial 20-year period.

SAMOA AGREEMENT SIGNATORIES

Signatories to the Samoa Agreement are 48 African countries, 16 countries from the Caribbean and 15 Pacific countries — accounting for about two billion people.

Africa

South Africa, Angola, Cape Verde, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Kinshasa), Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia , Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Eswatini, Tanzania, Chad, Togo, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The Caribbean

Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Saint Christophe and Nevis, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago

The Pacific

Cook Islands, Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Timor Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.

THE LGBTQ+ CONTROVERSY

Nigeria’s Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act (SSMPA) passed in 2014 prohibits lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights and criminalises marriage between people of same sex and civil unions.

LGBTQ FLAG

Nigeria’s legal position on same-sex marriage was what fuelled the uproar that followed its signing of the Samoa Agreement.

On Thursday, a media report claimed that some clauses of the agreement allegedly compel underdeveloped and developing nations to support the agitations by LGBTQ+ people for recognition.

The claims have been established to be false.

Mohammed Idris, the minister of information and national orientation, clarified that the federal government ensured that the agreement did not contravene the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and other extant laws.

The government has also explained that the agreement is strictly for the economic development of the country — as against claims that it contains provisions for same-sex marriage.

OTHER ANTI-LGBT COUNTRIES THAT SIGNED SAMOA AGREEMENT

Among the signatories to the Samoa Agreement are countries with anti-LGBTQ laws, including those governed by Islamic laws or with a predominantly Muslim population.

SAMOA, WHICH HOSTED THE FOUNDATION SUMMIT IN 2023, CRIMINALISES SAME-SEX RELATIONS BETWEEN MEN
Like Nigeria, their laws do not support same-sex marriage — otherwise they would not have signed the Samoa Agreement if it mandated LGBTQ+ rights.

Samoa itself, where the agreement is named after for hosting the foundation summit, criminalises same-sex relations between men, which is called sodomy.

Consensual same-sex relations are illegal in over 30 African countries.

Of the 79 signatories, Muslim-majority countries such as Sudan, Somalia, Mauritania, Comoros, Gambia and Sierra Leone are among the countries that have criminalised gay relations.

Somalia’s penal code, for instance, mandates a three-year prison sentence, or a death sentence that may be imposed under Sharia laws.

In April 2024, Uganda passed a law that allows death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” and up to a decade imprisonment for same-sex relations.

For Mauritania, a Muslim country, same-sex sexual activity is prohibited under the penal code which criminalises “acts against nature”.

The provision, with its origins in Islamic law, carries a maximum penalty of death by stoning for men and imprisonment for women.

In Sudan, a conservative Muslim country, same-sex relations is prohibited under the 1991 penal code, with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

The law previously allowed for flogging and death penalty until 2020 when it was relaxed.

East Africa’s Comoros laws, influenced by French, Islamic and customary laws, prohibit same-sex marriage, with a penalty of five years imprisonment and a fine.

That these countries have criminalised LGBTQ+ sexual relations yet signed the Samoa Agreement gives further credence to the fact that the agreement does not mandate them, Nigeria inclusive, to become pro-LGBTQ+.

It is worth noting that among the signatories are also countries that have legalised same-sex marriage through court decisions or legislative actions.

The countries include Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, and Belize.

Below are quick facts about the Samoa Agreement

1. The Samoa Agreement is a partnership agreement and a vital legal framework for cooperation between the EU and its member states, on the one hand, and members of OACPS on the other.

2. The multilateral agreement is colloquially called the ‘Samoa Agreement’ because its signing took place on the Island of Samoa in Oceania during the 46th session of the ACP-EU Council of Ministers.

3. The agreement, signed by Nigeria and other members of the OACPS, is based on six key priorities to tackle the main challenges in the member countries over the next two decades.

4. The Nigerian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the European Union, Obinna Onowu, signed the agreement on behalf of the Nigerian Government at the OACPS Secretariat in Brussels on June 28, 2024.

5. The priorities include human rights, democracy and governance; peace and security; human and social development; inclusive, sustainable economic growth and development; environmental sustainability and climate change; and mobility/migration.

6. An important principle of the agreement is that ‘’the Parties shall make decisions and undertake actions at the most appropriate domestic, regional or multi-country level’’.

7. No Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer clause in the agreement.

8. The EU and all its member states signed the agreement on November 15, 2023. Out of the 79 members of the OACPS, 74, including Nigeria, signed before the deadline of June 30, 2024.