By Agabaidu Chukwuemeka Jideani
As Nigeria navigates 2025 and moves into 2026, its asset recovery framework continues to evolve as a pivotal tool in combating corruption while aligning with human rights obligations under the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and domestic constitutional safeguards, including the right to fair hearing and right to property protected under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999.
The Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act 2022 (POCA) remains the cornerstone, facilitating tracing, freezing, seizure, and non-conviction-based (NCB) forfeiture on a balance-of-probabilities standard, with built-in judicial oversight, notice requirements, hearings, and appeals to ensure proportionality and due process.
In 2025, significant achievements underscore this framework’s efficacy. The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) reported recovering ₦37.44 billion and $2.353 million through seizures and forfeitures, representing one of its highest annual figures, while investigating about 263 cases and achieving a 55.74% conviction rate. Complementing these efforts, prior periods (2023–2025) saw the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) recover about ₦566 billion, $411 million, and 1,502 properties, including landmark forfeitures such as 753 duplexes and educational institutions repurposed for public use.
The 2025 launch and operationalization of the National Database for Forfeited Assets enhanced transparency, coordination, and disposal processes under POCA.
These recoveries have yielded tangible societal benefits, channeling funds into infrastructure, poverty alleviation via conditional cash transfers, education, health initiatives, and consumer credit schemes. For instance, portions of recovered assets were said to have supported the Nigeria Education Loan Fund and critical projects, directly addressing corruption’s erosion of economic, social, and cultural rights by redirecting resources to vulnerable populations.
Human rights integration persists through judicial safeguards in NCB proceedings, preventing arbitrary deprivation and allowing defenses. Civil society monitoring, as in past repatriations, and public enlightenment efforts are embedded in the process to bolster accountability and participation per UNCAC Article 13.
To further ensure balance, deterring corruption without rights infringements, and advance victim-centered interventions, where citizens deprived of public services are prioritized, ongoing reforms are crucial. These will include human rights impact assessments, refined proportionality in forfeitures, compensation for wrongful seizures, and enhanced judicial independence.
Victim focus requires POCA amendments for dedicated restitution funds, mandatory allocations to affected sectors, expanded civil society oversight with independent audits, and formalized victim participation in proceedings.
Nigeria’s 2025 trajectory, marked by record recoveries, digital transparency tools, and regional leadership, exemplifies how rights-compliant, victim-oriented asset recovery deprives illicit actors of gains, deters future corruption, and fosters equitable development, restoring dignity and trust for those most impacted.
These efforts have produced measurable benefits, redirecting funds to infrastructure, conditional cash transfers, education, health programs, and consumer credit initiatives, thereby mitigating corruption’s impact on economic, social, and cultural rights for vulnerable groups.
Going forward, the Nigerian National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) should assume an expanded oversight role, conducting routine human rights impact assessments of recovery operations, investigating complaints of procedural violations (e.g., arbitrary seizures), and collaborating with the EFCC and ICPC on training and policy formulation to embed fair trial standards and proportionality. This aligns with the NHRC’s mandate for monitoring violations, public education, and inter-agency partnerships, ensuring asset recovery does not infringe on rights while addressing corruption’s human rights harms.
Similarly, the organized private sector, through bodies like the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), must deepen engagement by adopting robust compliance programs, supporting beneficial ownership transparency, participating in collective action against corruption risks in procurement and supply chains, and contributing to monitored use of recovered assets for sustainable development. Such involvement enhances prevention, deters illicit flows, and fosters ethical business practices.
Nigeria’s 2025 progress, including record recoveries, digital tools, and regional leadership, demonstrates that integrating NHRC oversight and private sector contributions into rights-compliant, victim-oriented asset recovery deprives corrupt actors of gains, deters misconduct, and promotes equitable development and restored public trust.
Agabaidu Chukwuemeka Jideani, serves as the Director General of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and a Non-Executive Chairman of the African Centre for Governance, Assets Recovery and Sustainable Development
