FG committee gets six months to sell recovered looted assets

The Federal Government has inaugurated a committee to sell all looted assets recovered through the anti-corruption efforts of the Muhammadu Buhari administration with a mandate to dispose of them in six months.

The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, while inaugurating the 22-member committee in Abuja on Monday, urged its members not to betray the trust placed on them by the government.

Malami said members of the inter-ministerial committee on the disposal of Federal Government of Nigeria’s forfeited assets were drawn from relevant agencies and headed by the Solicitor General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr Dayo Apata (SAN).

Malami said, “It is my pleasure to note that Mr. President approved the composition of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Disposal of Federal Government of Nigeria Forfeited Assets on October 27, 2020 which we are inaugurating today. The committee has a time frame of six (6) months for the disposal of all Federal Government Forfeited Assets.”

According to him, the responsibilities of the committee will include implementation of provisions of the ATRM regulations; ensuring the transparency of the disposal of federal government final forfeited assets; and ensuring the synergy and collaboration between the AGF and Minister of Justice and law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies, other relevant ministries, departments and agencies and the non-governmental organization in the collation of records of all assets.

Other tasks of the committee were given as responding to any ongoing asset management audit and the asset performance reports; consistently implement enablers and controls that support decision making and efficiency of service delivery which govern the disposal of assets; and development of targets for the committee in order to measure its performance.

Malami however stated that the Asset Tracing, Recovery and Management Regulations, 2019, the Standard Operating Procedures and Terms of Reference shall be the working tools to serve as guidelines for the inter-ministerial committee and how best to actualize the quick disposal of the FGN assets in line with the president’s directive.

Malami also said, “Your mandate is to ensure the expedient disposal of all FGN forfeited assets and generate revenue for the Federal Government of Nigeria. Accordingly, I wish to solicit the cooperation of all members of this inter-ministerial committee in that respect.

“On this note, I wish to implore the inter-ministerial committee to work as a formidable team with the relevant agencies in accordance with extant laws and regulations. It is also my hope that the proceeds from this exercise will be a source of additional revenue for the country.

“I must, however, warn that the task before the inter-ministerial committee is an enormous one and must be conducted with utmost dignity having the interest of Nigeria at heart. Thus, much is expected from the committee,” the AGF noted.

The chairman of the committee, in his response, assured the minister of due diligence in the discharge of their duties.

He added that the committee would be guided by the principle of transparency and accountability.