Nigeria’s Ministry of Justice seeks to expand the powers of the Code of Code Bureau, CCB, to not only limit itself to investigation and presentation of cases relating to the conduct of public officers, but also to include the possibility of forfeiture, confiscation and seizure of proceeds of corruption.
The CCB is Nigeria’s agency responsible for the enforcement of the code of conduct of public officers, while the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, is responsible for enforcing, by way of judicial trials and proceedings, the code of conduct of public officers.
A memo presented to the meeting of the Federal Executive Council on Wednesday by the Federal Ministry of Justice sought the approval of the Council to amend the Code of Conduct Bureau and Code of Conduct Tribunal Act Cap C 15, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 to that effect.
Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who briefed the media after the meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said he presented a bill that seeks to enhance the functions of the two bodies.
Malami said the enhancement would be both in terms of the composition and the scope of the CCT for the purpose of addressing the issues associated with breaches presented before the tribunal by the CCB.
“We have succeeded in presenting issues relating to the expansion of powers of the bureau not only to limit itself to the idea of presenting cases and investigations but also to include the possibility of forfeiture, confiscation and seizure of assets when the need arises, which were not part and parcel of the CCB before now.
“And then in terms of the CCT it is to expand the scope, taking into consideration the workload. There is a lot pending cases, but then we have limited personnel, limited members of the tribunal to address them.
“Fundamentally, that bill is intended to consider it from the point of expansion of its powers, from the point of increase in the composition of the tribunal and then from the point of expanding the scope of punishment that should be meted; all out of the desire to take the fight against corruption to the next level.”
International resolution
The Justice Minister said he also presented a second memo notifying the Federal Executive Council on the Conference of State Parties to the UN Convention Against Corruption held at International Congress Centre, Sharm El-Sheik in Egypt dated 12-17 December 2021.
According to him, Nigeria sponsored an international resolution relating to asset recovery and how the international community could assist in doing that.
“The intention of that resolution is to see how best Nigeria can bring about international understanding relating to the recovery of assets by way of simplifying the process; by way of ensuring, at the end of the day, that we create an international community understanding relating to the process of recovery of assets.
“At the end of the day, arising from the conclusion of the meeting, Nigeria has succeeded in developing a resolution relating to enhancing access to and use of beneficial ownership information to facilitate identification, recovery and return of assets.”
Malami explained Nigeria ran into trouble in the case of P&ID had over $10billion against it but that those behind the company were not identified.
“So, it took us a lot of trouble, internationally and locally, to identify the beneficial owners of P&ID.
“So, with that in mind, Nigeria has now developed an international resolution of beneficial ownership register that whoever is investing in Nigeria as a company and internationally should have full disclosure of their identity before embarking on any international investment.
“Nigeria has succeeded in presenting that resolution and it has a lot of support from a number of countries, including Pakistan, State of Palestine, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Columbia, Burkina Faso, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, the US, Brazil, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Honduras, Angola, Algeria, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Kenya, among others.
“So, what I’m saying is that Nigeria has taken its fight against corruption not only locally but indeed internationally by way of ensuring that adequate infrastructure, both legal, legislative and otherwise, are put in place for the purpose of facilitating the tracing and recovery of assets.
He added that what Nigeria did at the Conference of State Parties resulted in the international community appreciating Nigeria’s effort in the fight against corruption while the country has been highly rated as a leader in Africa in the area of developing structures for recovery, repatriation and disposal of proceeds of crime.
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