UPDATED: Malami inaugurates committee on disposal of assets forfeited to Nigerian govt

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, on Monday, inaugurated the Inter-Ministerial Committee on the disposal of assets forfeited to the federal government.

In his speech, the minister said that the initiative was borne out of the president’s directive in October 2018 following recommendations of the Presidential Audit Committee on Recovery and Management of Stolen Assets and a need for efficient management of the assets.

“It is aimed at ensuring proper coordination of the disposal of the federal government’s assets and for promoting a uniform, harmonised and transparent procedure to safeguard the assets recovered by the relevant agencies in line with the anti-corruption drive of this administration,” he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the establishment of the committee on October 27.

The minister added that the members of the committee would be from relevant agencies specialised in the recovery and disposal of Nigeria’s assets while Dayo Apata, Solicitor-General of the Federation, will be the chairperson of the committee and the asset tracing, recovery and management unit.

The minister added that the committee is responsible for the development of its targets in order to measure its performance, and respond to ongoing asset management audit and asset performance reports.

“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 the 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.”

See the 20 institutions that will have members in the committee below.

According to Mr Malami, the members of the committee shall include, but not limited to, representatives from the following:
(1) Office of the Chief of staff to the President
(2) Federal Ministry of Justice
(3) Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning
(4) Federal Ministry of Works and Housing
(5) Auditor General of the Federation
(6) Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(7) Independent Corrupt Practices (and other related offenses) commission
(8) Nigerian Army
(9) Nigerian Navy
(10) Nigerian Police
(11) Nigerian Security Civil Defence Cops
(12) Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency
(13) Department of State Security
(14) National Oil Spillage, Detection and Response Agency
(15) Bureau of Public Procurement
(16) Department of Petroleum Resources
(17) Representatives from the Civil Society Organization
(18) Representatives of the Youth
(19) Representatives of the Media and
(20) Any other Nigerian with exceptional expertise that could ass value to the committee as deem fit by the Attorney General of the Federation.