The House of Representatives has constituted an Ad-hoc Committee to identify and recover public funds seized, forfeited and abandoned in financial institutions and government agencies in Nigeria.
The Ad-hoc Committee is to appraise the Nigerian Government’s current policy framework, to ascertain- (a) who authorized the seizures? (b) who keeps the seized funds and for what duration, and (c) demand for the statement of account for a period covering ten (10) years.
It is also to proffer measures to curb revenue losses and identify and analyze all funds trapped in other banks and funds recovered so far by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC,), and the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and other Agencies and report back within four weeks.
These resolutions followed the adoption of a motion titled “Need to Identify and Recover Public Funds Seized, Forfeited and Abandoned in Financial Institutions and Government Agencies to Improve the Current Economic Challenges In Nigeria” sponsored by Dachung Bagos.
The House noted that the Proceeds of Crime Act was enacted to provide for an effective legal and institutional framework for the recovery and management of the proceeds of crime, strengthen criminal confiscation pprocedures and collaborate among the relevant organizations in tracing properties reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
It also noted that under Section 69 of the aforesaid states that all recovered Monies, as well as proceeds from the sale of confiscated assets, shall be paid into the Central Bank of Nigeria as Confiscated and Forfeited Properties Account for the Federation.
The House said; “it was aware that CBN grant permission to Money Transfer Service Operations (MTSO) for both inbound and outbound transfers and that sometimes monies are trapped in the coffers of the CBN and other financial institutions.”
It observed that despite having at least 12 institutions and agencies responsible for tackling illicit financial flow (IFF) and related crimes, Nigeria continues to be menaced by weak regulatory structures and complicity another financial secrecy, among others.
“The House is concerned that all recovered Funds from the investigation of the Federal Government Agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Funds recovered through whistle Blowing, all funds seized by CBN, funds left by deceased bank customers, funds trapped in banks, forfeiture, exhibits, proceed of frauds terrorism, drugs, etc, are stacked in places not known and are not accounted for to the Public.
“The House is also concerned that while the National Assembly has made considerable efforts by making enactments such as the Proceeds of Crime Act which has introduced some laudable provisions to realign the fight against corruption and financial crimes with International best practices, the lack of enforcement has rendered these efforts futile,” the motion reads.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
