Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says
the federal government can seize assets from citizens who cannot explain the
source of their wealth.
The vice president made this
known on Tuesday while declaring the anti-corruption conference organised by
the office of the vice president and the Presidential Advisory Committee
Against Corruption (PACAC) in Abuja on Tuesday.
“The Supreme Court in a lead
judgment of Akaahs JSC, recently held that forfeiture under Section 17 of the
Advanced Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act is a civil process which
neither requires the criminal conviction of the property owner nor his
innocence,” he said.
“This opens the door for
forfeiture of assets that the purported owner cannot explain, whether or not an
allegation of corruption is made.”
According to him, corruption has
made Nigeria’s debt and poverty figures double in spite of the highest oil
revenues in Nigeria’s history
He said the Buhari-administration
is not deceived into thinking that it has won the battle against corruption as
it was tackling grand corruption first.
“By that, we mean the stealing of
huge public resources directly from the treasury; usually at the highest levels
of executive authority; and the stealing of budgeted funds through various
schemes,” he explained.
“We are now poised to deal with
the wider problem of systemic corruption; especially where the average person
interacts with government.
“Corruption in the issuance of
contracts, licenses and other government approvals; there is no reason why any
Nigerian should have to give bribe to law enforcement agents for obtaining
drivers licenses or passports or to clear goods at our ports.
“All the relevant government
agencies have shown a serious commitment to eradicating these forms of
corruption; our next level is to create the environment for collaboration
between our agencies, civil society and other stakeholders.”
He said the enforcement of
treasury single account(TSA), the presidential initiative on continuous audit,
and transferring civil servants on the IPPIS electronic platform has helped to
control official theft of public funds.
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