Asset Recovery Legislation (NG0008)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Nigeria National Action Plan 2017-2019
Action Plan Cycle: 2017
Status: Inactive
Institutions
Lead Institution: Ministry of Justice
Support Institution(s): National Assembly, The Presidency, Anti-Corruption Agencies, National Security Adviser, Law Enforcement Agencies, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Central Bank. Public What You Pay, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development, Digital Forensics, PGL, African Network for Economic and Environmental Justice, Society for Forensic Accounting and Fraud Prevention
Policy Areas
Capacity Building, Fiscal Openness, Legislation & Regulation, Publication of Budget/Fiscal InformationIRM Review
IRM Report: Nigeria Implementation Report 2017-2019, Nigeria Design Report 2017-2019
Starred: No
Early Results: Marginal
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information , Public Accountability
Implementation i
Description
This commitment is to strengthen Nigerian laws with regards to asset recovery especially non-conviction based confiscation powers and unexplained wealth orders; and ensure proper management of assets and proceeds
IRM Midterm Status Summary
8: To strengthen Nigeria’s asset recovery legislation including non-conviction-based confiscation powers and the introduction of unexplained wealth orders
Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:
“This commitment aims to strengthen Nigerian laws with regards to asset recovery especially non-conviction-based confiscation powers and unexplained wealth orders and ensure proper management of assets and proceeds.”
Milestones:
8.1. Enactment of the Proceeds of Crime Act
8.2. Capacity building for the ACAs to implement non-conviction-based asset forfeiture regime
8.3. Federal Ministry of Justice to develop guidelines for transparent management of recovered assets pending the enactment of the law
Start Date: January 2017 End Date: June 2019
Action plan is available here:
Context and Objectives
This commitment seeks to enact legislation that would aid asset recovery and ensure proper and transparent management of recovered assets.
President Buhari positioned the recovery of stolen assets at the forefront of his political agenda. [86] Between May 2015 and November 2017, MDAs reportedly recovered assets worth millions of Naira. [87] In 2017, the president set up a committee on the Audit of Recovered Public Assets to audit recovered assets, which reported a year later that assets worth billions of Naira had been recovered. [88]
The success of these asset recovery efforts is difficult to measure given a substantial lack of transparency in data, which causes concern that recovered assets are being re-looted. [89]
Lack of transparency has been exacerbated by a fragmented and inefficient legal and institutional framework for asset recovery. As far back as 2000, Nigeria had laws and agencies addressing the proceeds of crime and corruption, [90] including the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act of 2000, [91] the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2002, [92] and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, 2004. [93] However these laws (among others) have failed to provide a harmonized legal and institutional framework for the confiscation, seizure, recovery, and management of assets and property derived from illegal activities. [94]
In response, the Nigerian government created the Proceeds of Crime Bill which establishes the Proceeds of Crime Recovery and Management Agency (PCRMA). [95] According to the Bill, the PCRMA deals specifically with asset recovery, including non-conviction asset forfeiture which was unavailable in the asset recovery regime. [96] The Nigeria Senate passed the Proceeds of Crime Bill in 2015, [97] but the law is not yet passed in the National Assembly. [98] Support for the Proceeds of Crime Bill in civil society is split; some believe it will more clearly define the roles and powers of relevant institutions, [99] and others maintain that the existing laws must simply be strengthened and establishing an additional agency was not warranted. [100] The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) argued that the Bill needs to provide for a central database for recovered assets, and a new institution responsible for the transparent management of all assets. These institutions should include civil society representation on their executive boards. [101]
This commitment is relevant to the OGP values of access to information and public accountability. Although the IRM researcher was not able to review the Proceeds of Crime Bill, commentary on the draft legislation suggests that there were no provisions that would require agencies to publish information on recovered assets. [102] The commitment nevertheless included outcomes of published guidelines on transparent management of assets and publicly available information on the use of recovered assets.
Overall, the milestones are objectively verifiable. The enactment of the POCA is straight forward to determine, and it should be possible to identify the FMoJ’s guidelines on asset recovery. The capacity-building activities in Milestone 8.2 seem less verifiable.
This commitment should have a minor impact. There was no consensus amongst stakeholders that the bill provides the robust regulatory framework needed for the transparent management of recovered assets. [103] David Ugolor, Executive Director of ANEEJ, believes the bill will provide agencies with a specific mandate to deal with asset recovery and non-conviction based asset forfeiture, which is currently unavailable. [104] However, the commitment is vague regarding the ACAs’ capacity building exercises and the FMoJ guidelines. Although failing to address the problem of transparent management of recovered assets, the commitment is nevertheless a positive and incremental step toward a more functional legal and institutional framework for asset recovery.
Next Steps
Asset recovery legislation is an important tool that will benefit open government initiatives in Nigeria. Future commitments in this policy area should include:
- Developing specific activities such as a central database on recovered assets, civil society representation on, or engagement with, the PCRMA, and indicators on monitoring and publishing information on resolved cases;
- Government publication of information on recovered assets on a dedicated platform; and
- Considering technology or innovative processes to implement this commitment.
Commitments
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Participatory Budgeting
NG0015, 2019, Anti-Corruption
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Implement Open Contracting and the Open Contracting Data Standard
NG0016, 2019, Access to Information
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Transparent Tax Revenue Reporting
NG0017, 2019, Access to Information
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Open Contracting and Licensing in Extractives
NG0018, 2019, Access to Information
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Implement EITI Standard
NG0019, 2019, Anti-Corruption
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Establish Beneficial Ownership Registry
NG0020, 2019, Access to Information
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Strengthen Asset Recovery Legislation
NG0021, 2019, Anti-Corruption
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Implement National Anti-Corruption Strategy
NG0022, 2019, Anti-Corruption
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Improve Compliance with Freedom of Information Act with Focus on Records Management
NG0023, 2019, Access to Information
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Improved Compliance with Mandatory Publication Provisions Requirement (FOIA)
NG0024, 2019, Access to Information
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Implement Permanent Dialogue Mechanism
NG0025, 2019, Access to Justice
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Aggregate Citizens' Feedback on Programs
NG0026, 2019, E-Government
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Freedom of Association, Assembly, and Expression
NG0027, 2019, Civic Space
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Enhance Participation of the Vulnerable
NG0028, 2019, Capacity Building
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Implement New Computer Program in 6 Government Ministries to Improve Service Delivery
NG0029, 2019, Capacity Building
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Legal Instrument to Strengthen SERVICOM
NG0030, 2019, Legislation & Regulation
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Citizen Participation in Budget Cycle
NG0001, 2017, Access to Information
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Open Contracting
NG0002, 2017, Access to Information
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Extractive Sector Transparency
NG0003, 2017, Access to Information
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Tax Reporting Standards
NG0004, 2017, Fiscal Openness
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World Bank Doing Business Index
NG0005, 2017, Fiscal Openness
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Beneficial Ownership Register
NG0006, 2017, Anti-Corruption
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Anti-Corruption Informationi Sharing
NG0007, 2017, Anti-Corruption
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Asset Recovery Legislation
NG0008, 2017, Capacity Building
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Anti-Corruption Activity Coordination
NG0009, 2017, Anti-Corruption
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FOIA Compliance for Annual Reporting
NG0010, 2017, Access to Information
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FOIA Compliance for Disclosure
NG0011, 2017, Access to Information
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Permanent Dialogue Mechanism
NG0012, 2017, Fiscal Openness
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Joint Governmnet-Civil Society Legislation Review
NG0013, 2017, Fiscal Openness
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Technology-Based Citizens' Feedback
NG0014, 2017, E-Government