Senators kick as EFCC transfers forfeited assets to AGF

This was made known when the anti-graft agency appeared before the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption.

The committee is chaired by Senator Suleiman Andy Kwari.

The Director of Operations in the Agency, Abdulkarim Chukkol, gave information to the Senators when he was asked about the state of forfeited assets.

According to Chukkol: “All the forfeited assets have been transferred to the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation.”

He said the EFCC acted in line with the policy directive issued since 2019 that all final forfeited assets should be transferred to the office of the Attorney General of the Federation for proper management

The Director of Operations did not enumerate on the assets transferred to the Office of the AGF while speaking before the lawmakers.

Some Senators however kicked against the transfer of forfeited assets to the Office of Attorney General of Federation.

Senator Abba Moro said he does not see the management acumen in the Office of the AGF that is not in the EFCC.

Moro said the assets need to be disposed off for government to raise money to finance the budget.

The Senator said: “I don’t see the rational for transfer of asset to AGF.

“I don’t see the management acumen in the AGF that is not available in the EFCC.”

But the Chairman of the committee in his intervention said the Proceeds of Crime Bill that is currently before the Senate will address the issue.

According to Kwari: “This is what the Proceed of Crime Bill will be addressing.

“It will seek to address such ambiguity.”

Also, during the budget defence hearing, senators complained about the meagre budget allocated to the anti-graft agency, saying the fund was not enough to fight corruption in Nigeria.

Senator Yusuf Yusuf wondered how N31 billion could be enough to fight corruption in the country.

Supporting the position of Yusuf, Senator Smart Adeyemi also complained about the money allocated for anti-graft agency to fight corruption in Nigeria.

Senator Adeyemi added that the anti-graft agency should be able to get offices in all Senatorial Districts if it is not possible to get offices in all the local governments in the country.

He said that availability of the agency offices in Senatorial Districts will make it easier for them to get first hand information.

Earlier, the Director of Finance of the Commission, Mohammed Joda, while defending the 2022 budget proposal said the total fund proposed for the agency was N31.3 billion, of which N25.8 billion is earmarked for personnel cost, N3.6 billion for overhead, while the sum of N1.8 billion is for capital expenditure

The Director of Operations of EFCC informed the lawmakers that the agency has only 15 offices across the federation, including the headquarters in Abuja.

Also, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, led by its Chairman, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye (SAN), defended the Commission’s budget before the committee.

Owasanoye said the total budget proposed for ICPC in 2022 is N12.9 billion, of which N9.8 billion is for personnel cost, N1.8 billion for overhead, while only N1.3 billion is for capital expenditure.

Another agency that appeared before the committee was the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit headed by Tukur Modibo, who complained bitterly about the N350 million capital fund allocated to his agency in the 2022 budget.

Modibo appealed to the Senate for upward review of the allocation to enable the agency carry out its mandate without any hindrance.

He also told the committee that N4 billion was proposed for personnel cost, while N1 billion is for overhead.

In his concluding remarks, the Chairman of the committee noted: “Some agencies are too important to be limited to envelope system if they must perform their mandates to the fullest.”