The federal government yesterday announced the recovery of over N120 billion, among other currencies, through the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Law (POCA), 2022.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, disclosed this in Abuja at the eighth edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) Administration Scorecard series (2015-2023).
The series was launched in October to showcase and document the achievements of the Buhari administration. The edition featured the minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi.
The minister in his opening remarks said the Buhari administration’s fight against corruption was very much on track.
Mohammed recalled that the president in May signed the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Bill, with two others into law to improve the country’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework.
“In line with the new law, all relevant agencies of government have now opened ‘Confiscated and Forfeiture Properties Account’ with the Central Bank of Nigeria. The money is being used to fund the completion of ongoing critical infrastructure projects in the country like the Second Niger Bridge as well as Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kano Expressways,” he said.
The two other bills signed into law by the president in May were the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2022, the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill.
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While signing the bills at the Council Chamber of the presidential villa, the president described them as being in tandem with his administration’s commitment to fight corruption and illicit financing activities.
The president had said that the new laws provided enough punitive measures and containment strategies against abuses and compromises while the inadequacy of all the repealed Acts had impacted legal actions against offenders.
He commended the National Assembly members for their tenacity, courage and commitment in ensuring that Nigeria put in place effective measures to address the menace of money laundering, terrorism, and terrorism financing.
On his part, Abdullahi said the federal government has blamed the delay in the cleanup of Ogoni land on various court cases by some interest groups in the Niger Delta.
He also noted that Nigeria continues to be severely impacted by the effect of deleterious changes in our environment with sea level rise along our coastline, progressive desertification and loss of fertile land, deforestation, disruptive erosion and land degradation, flooding and general environmental degradation from pollution and contamination.
“These are issues that threaten the means of livelihood and survival of citizens of this country, which the Federal Ministry of Environment has been charged with the mandate to address,” he said.
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