CISLAC Salutes FG On Loot Recovery

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has given strongly commended the Muhammadu Buhari administration in its milestone effort in repatriating stolen foreign assets to the country.

CISLAC, one of the country’s leading civil society organizations in a statement on Monday nevertheless charged the administration to ensure that it enthrones transparency in the utilization of the repatriated funds.

While appreciating the administration, CISLAC in the statement issued by its executive director, Auwal Musa (Rafsanjani) said:

“In principle, CISLAC supports the investment of the recovered assets for infrastructure projects. In the context of technical problems, controversies and heavy transaction costs associated with some previous international recoveries, the recovered assets may be invested into infrastructural projects which may be easier to independently verify, and their completion and usage observed by the Nigerian population without expensive verification mechanisms by third parties.

“However, we shall insist that the Government complies with the 10 Global Forum for Asset Recovery (GFAR) principles as signed by the Government of Nigeria in 2017 in Washington, DC. In particular, the principle four (4), Transparency and Accountability, should be upheld.

“The Nigerian public, through independent and competent civil society, should be given an unrestricted access to the contractual arrangement by all three parties of this agreement. The Nigerian public must have unhindered access to the contractual arrangement of this deal to prevent re-looting and misuse of these assets by well-connected individuals and companies.  The public has the right to know how these infrastructure projects were selected, which party will oversee the procurement, how the quality of the work will be verified and all other relevant details.”

“CISLAC would also like to highlight the fact that many unfulfilled reforms in the assert recovery regime still needs to be adopted by the Government of Nigeria. We still lack clear guidelines for domestic and international recoveries.

“Domestic recoveries, which surpass in their totality by far the international asset recovery, operate under a chaotic system prone to misuse and abuse by agencies with the mandate to seize and confiscate assets. Crucial legal framework called Proceeds of Crime Act has been inexplicably stalled.”

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