Federal Government to sell forfeited assets within six months

A 22-member committee was on Monday inaugurated in Abuja by Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami.

The mandate has been given to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Disposal of Federal Government of Nigeria Forfeited Assets, to dispose of both movable and immovable assets recovered from suspected looters.

Malami urged members of the committee not to betray the trust in them by the government, pointing out that they were drawn from relevant agencies that deal with the recovery and disposal of federal assets.

The AGF urged the committee to deploy “the Asset Tracing, Recovery and Management Regulations, 2019, the Standard Operating Procedures and Terms of Reference” as its working tools and guide on how best to actualise the quick disposal of the recovered assets in line with the directive of the President.

Malami added: “Your mandate is to ensure the expedient disposal of all FGN Forfeited Assets and generate revenue for the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“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 committee’s Chairman and Solicitor-General of the Federation, Dayo Apata, assured that the committee would execute its mandate with utmost commitment.

“I assure you that our committee will be guided by the twin principles of transparency and accountability,” Apata said.

He directed all assets recovery agencies to urgently send records of recovered assets to the committee’s secretariat, which is the Assets Tracing Recovery and Management Unit in the office of the AGF.

Members of the committee were drawn from Office of the Chief of Staff to the President; Federal Ministries of Justice; Finance as well as Works and Housing); Auditor-General of the Federation; the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

Other are: the Nigerian Army;  Nigerian Navy; Nigeria Police;  Nigeria Security Civil Defence Corps; Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency; Department of State Security;  National Drug Law Enforcement Agency; Department of Petroleum Resources;  National Oil Spillage, Detection and Response Agency; and the Bureau of Public Procurement.

Also to work on the committee are representatives of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs); a representative of the youth organisations, a representative of the media; and any other Nigerian with exceptional expertise that could add value to the committee as deems fit by the AGF.”