Building Cooperation, Partnerships on Asset Recovery
The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, in partnership with the Socio Economic Rights and Accountability Project, the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice and the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Nigeria Secretariat, re
Crucial Consultation
Anti-corruption stakeholders in Nigeria recently convened for a preparatory consultative meeting ahead of the Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) scheduled to hold in Washington DC.
The Pre-GFAR Consultative Meeting, held at Reiz Continental Hotel, Abuja on October 26, was organised by the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) in partnership with Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice and the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Nigeria Secretariat. The event was supported by the Macarthur Foundation and UKAid.
The forum attracted high level participation from government, the legislature, civil society, the private sector, international development partners and the diplomatic community. Goodwill messages were presented by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), the Coordinator of Nigeria’s OGP Secretariat, Mrs. Juliet IbekakuNwagwu, the EFCC/NFIU, ICPC, the Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria, HE Eric Mayooraz, and the representative of the UK Embassy.
There was also a strong civil society delegation from across Nigeria including the Centre LSD, the Centre for Social Justice, CSJ, the OGP Secretariat, Gender Awareness Trust, Policy Alert, HEDA Resource Centre, Youth Accountability Forum, SERDEC, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, BudgIT/Open Alliance, and the UK Department for International Development (DfID).
The aim was to engender frank discussions among participants at the Anti-corruption stakeholders in Nigeria ahead of the Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) in Washington.
Among those billed to make remarks at the meeting were the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN; British High Commissioner/ Ambassador to Nigeria, US Ambassador to Nigeria, Swiss Ambassador, the MacArthur Foundation, UNODC, and SERAP executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni. There were also two sessions for key stakeholders to discuss issues related to the Nigerian position prior to the Washington GFAR meeting in December.
Global Forum The Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) was established as an outcome of the London 2016 Anti-Corruption Summit hosted by former British Prime Minister, David Cameron. The US government committed to hosting GFAR and the inaugural forum will be held in Washington, DC from December 4 to 6.
The core objective of GFAR is to convene practitioner experts to provide an effective opportunity for States to cooperate on asset recovery cases, highlighting the importance of strong political commitment, multijurisdictional coordination, and practitioner interaction.
GFAR will bring together the Group of Seven (G-7), financial centres, and countries in transition seeking to recoup assets stolen through corruption. The inaugural GFAR will focus on the asset tracing and asset recovery efforts of four focus countries: Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, and Ukraine.
In addition to providing a venue for case specific meetings, GFAR seeks to provide a forum for training and discussion of best practices on cases, and identifies country-specific capacity building needs.
Useful Presentations
There were four presentations at the forum, which included ‘Nigerian government guidelines for Asset Recovery’ by the incoming chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye; ‘Ongoing effort at tackling corruption and recovery of looted assets’ by the Acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Magu; ‘Nigeria government priority for GFAR’ by Ladidi Mohammed of the Federal Ministry of Justice, and a formal presentation of the CSO country report and the proposed Charter on Accountable Asset Return, by the Executive Director of ANEEJ, Rev David Ugolor.
There was also a panel discussion on the topic: Setting agenda for an enduring asset recovery regime in Nigeria: focusing on priority for GFAR and beyond, with the following panelists: EFCC/NFIU representative; Soji Apampa of the Integrity organisation; Mrs. Juliet Ibekaku Nwagwu; Adetokunbo Mumuni of SERAP, and Eze Onyekpere of the Centre for Social Justice.
Strategic Meeting
A strategy meeting took place at the Reiz Hotel, and there were 20 participants including BoltonAkpan Tijah of Policy Alert; Ralph Ndigwe of CIRDDOC; Mohammed Attah of PRADIN; Dr. Igbinedion Simeon of the University of Lagos; Charles Osagie of Save the Future Initiative; Onyekpere Eze of Centre for Social Justice; Uche Igwe of OGP Support Unit; and Tijani Abdulkareem of the Social-Economic Research and Development Centre.
The strategy meeting resolved to present a new paradigm in favour of what work Nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) can carry out in the areas of prosecution, investigation and policy in the areas of asset recovery.
A key observation during this meeting was that technology, apart from the lawyers and accountants, has often helped to get the monies out of Nigeria, and therefore there is need to set up a committee to train NGOs and create a website for updating the knowledge base of stakeholders.
Setting the Tone
In an address of welcome, Ugolor said, apart from needing a new national asset recovery architecture to deal with the multiple challenges facing Nigeria, the country’s anti-corruption agencies need to explore more creative strategies to respond to the new-large scale incidences of corruption in both the public and private sectors.