EFCC Tasks Law Enforcement Agencies On Asset Recovery

Acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulkarim Chukkol, has charged law enforcement agencies (LEAs) to take advantage of the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act 2023, to improve their assets tracing and recovery efforts with the aim of delivering greater benefits to Nigerians.

Chukkol gave the admonition in a message at the opening ceremony of a four-day capacity building workshop on the proceeds of crime at the EFCC Academy, Abuja.

The agency’s spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement, said the EFCC boss who spoke through the secretary to the commission, Dr George Ekpungu said the commission was poised to take the lead in the enforcement of Proceed of Crime Act (POCA).

He said, “Our various departments, particularly Proceeds of Crime Management Department, are poised to key into the economic recovery and development strategies of this administration which emphasizes crime prevention and uncompromising recovery of assets illegally obtained from the country.”

The commandant, EFCC Academy, commander of EFCC, Ayo Olowonihi in his remarks, emphasized the importance of taking away benefits from crime.

Also, the president of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Professor Akinseyi George, identified greed as the major driver of crime as criminals no longer bother about going to prison, knowing that the proceeds of the crime are available for them to enjoy after serving their sentence and maintained that POCA is designed to put an end to such trend.

The solicitor-general of the federation (SGF) and permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Beatrice Jedy-Agba said, “POCA is a child of necessity. It is a landmark legislation which singularly sets out a comprehensive scheme and prescribes processes and procedures for the tracing, restrain, seizure, confiscation, forfeiture and management of properties derived from unlawful activities.”

She said efforts are being made to create a standardised automated asset forfeiture management system for the effective implementation of the provisions of the Act.