UK, UNODC, ICPC, Police, NAPTIP Back ANEEJ’s Demand for Central Database of Recovered Assets

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

The British Government, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Nigeria’s leading anti-graft agencies have backed the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, in its demand for a unified, public and tamper-proof database for all recovered assets in the country.

The coalition gave its support, yesterday in Abuja during a stakeholder briefing on data management in asset recovery, while comparing Nigeria’s system with those of the UK, US, Italy and France.

Opening the briefing, ANEEJ Executive Director, Rev. David Ugolor, said while Nigeria has a good law in the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act, 2022, implementation has been poor.

Represented by Deputy Executive Director, Comrade Leo Atakpu, Ugolor revealed that as at April 2026, some agencies are uploading forfeited assets to the central database, others are still finalising access, while some have not started at all.

“Recovering an asset is only part of the task. Stakeholders need to know what was identified, frozen, forfeited, where it is and how it is being managed. Without reliable data, that story cannot be told with confidence,” Ugolor said.

He noted the database is not yet open to the public, and Nigeria still has no single identifier to track an asset from seizure to court to Treasury.

For the UK, the Illicit Finance Adviser at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, FCDO, Jehanzeb Khan, represented by Anicestus Atakpu, said the UK values its partnership with Nigeria in fighting illicit finance, noting that effective recovery depends on transparent data.

UNODC Country Representative, Cheikh Ousmane Toure, represented by Princess Chifiero, said Nigeria is a leading country in asset recovery, citing the launch of the national database of forfeited assets in May and Nigeria’s exit from the FATF grey-list in October.

She however warned, “What was recovered? Where is it now? Is it worth it today? And what is it being used for? Until you can answer those questions from reliable records, public confidence will continue to stay fragile.”

The Director General of NAPTIP, Binta Lami Adamu Bello, represented by Dr. Amina Sa’idu Dauda, said asset recovery is central to fighting human trafficking and called for a unified, accurate and tamper-proof system.

The Inspector General of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu, represented by DC Ibrahim M. Musa, described asset recovery as a hydra-headed issue bedevilled by mistrust and welcomed civil society pressure to build stronger institutions.

The Chairman of Code of Conduct Bureau, Dr. Abdullahi Usman Bello, represented by Dr. Fatima Kere Ahmed, said recovery goes beyond seizure and requires proper documentation to preserve value.

The Chairman of ICPC, Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, SAN, represented by Adamu Baba, said recovering an asset is the beginning of responsibility, lamenting fragmented records and inconsistent reporting, and called for common asset identifiers.

Civil Society Adviser at the Open Government Partnership, Uchenna Arisukwu, said managing recovered assets is as critical as recovering them to prevent re-looting.

ANEEJ said its comparative report is still a draft and called for stakeholder inputs to produce practical recommendations to strengthen Nigeria’s asset recovery ecosystem.