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| Mr. Ola Olukoyede at COSP10 |
Executive
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ola
Olukoyede has called for urgent and unconditional return of Nigerian stolen assets stashed in foreign countries.
He
made this call on Tuesday, December 12, 2023 at the ongoing 10th session
of the Conference of State Parties, COSP, to the United Nations
Convention Against Corruption, UNCAC, holding at the Georgia World Congress
Centre, Atlanta, United States of America.
According
to him, the return of stolen assets warehoused in foreign countries, has become
imperative for the growth of the economy and expansion of frontiers of
development within and outside Nigeria. He warned that economic and
financial crimes have become transnational crimes and no nation serving as a
custodian of stolen assets should hold on to them.
“We
need the cooperation of all the countries that are custodians or in charge of
warehousing all these stolen assets from Africa. It has become extremely
important for us to see you as our collaborators, as countries that support us
in the fight against corruption. Now, when you look at corruption, it has
become a transnational crime. If you are holding on to those assets, you
are creating very difficult legal hurdles in recovering those assets. You are
indirectly encouraging the perpetrators of the crimes we are talking
about. And when you encourage it in Africa, it has a tendency of
affecting you too, because the kind of financial crimes we are talking about
have become global in nature. So, it has become important for you to cooperate
with us”, he said.
The
EFCC’s boss, in a presentation made before a global audience on asset recovery
efforts and successes of Nigeria so far, pointed out that Nigeria had “probably
done much more than any other country, perhaps the whole world, in the area of
asset recovery. We have been able to achieve something because of the legal and
regulatory framework that the government of Nigeria has been able to put in
place”. He listed measures already taken in this regard to include, the
enactment of the Proceeds of Crimes( Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, use
of extant laws on civil forfeiture of assets, banking reforms mandating
bank customers to have a Bank Verification Number, BVN, for all transactions
and the professional activities of the EFCC and other anti-corruption agencies
to trace, investigate and prosecute ill-gotten assets within and beyond
Nigeria, as potent measures yielding optimal results in asset
recovery.
“There
is an aspect of our law that allows for civil forfeiture. Civil forfeiture is a
situation where you will not necessarily get a criminal conviction of an
offender but you can easily attach assets and forfeit the assets and that has
greatly assisted us in asset recovery. There is another aspect that we have
tried to put in place, a year ago. It is the enactment of the Proceeds of Crime
Act which has created legal and regulatory regimes for asset recovery by
various agencies in Nigeria. Also, our ability to cooperate and collaborate
with the rest of the world to drive home the fact that both the people that
have stolen money and the countries that have received the money are also
culpable”, he said.
He
reiterated the need for the global community to support Nigeria’s efforts
towards asset recovery, pointing out that, “we will only be able to
see you as a friend if you are willing to support us in recovering such
assets that have been traced to your jurisdiction”. He applauded
the courage and commitment of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in driving the asset
recovery initiatives of the EFCC and other anti-graft agencies and assuring the
world that stronger financial discipline is now in place in Nigeria. “
President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has promised the whole world that we are
ready to run our financial system in Nigeria in such a way that is
transparent and responsible”, he said.
Olukoyede
harped on his preventive framework as a new modality capable of yielding
impactful results in the fight against corruption. “I can also pledge that on
our part, we are ready to adopt very strict preventive measures which we have
started in Nigeria now. As a matter of fact , it was one of my
policy objectives when I assumed office over a month ago, to use the
instrumentality of prevention as one of the major forces to
fight financial crimes and corruption in Nigeria. It costs less for
you to prevent than for you to enforce . We are holding on to that. Again, I
want to pledge that going forward, we will ensure that there is accountability
and transparency in application of whatever asset is recovered”, he said.
Earlier
in an address, the Nigerian Country Director, United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime, Oliver Stolpe, applauded Nigeria on its asset recovery
efforts, describing her as “ world’s champion in asset
recovery”.
"Nigeria
in many ways has been leading the asset recovery efforts on the African
continent and I like to refer to Nigeria as the world’s champion in asset recovery
because, certainly in African comparison, you have more cases and
recovered large amounts”, he said.
The 10th session of COSP ends on Friday, December 15, 2023.
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