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Senators have l the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for transferring forfeited assets to the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (OAGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
They maintained that the forfeited assets ought to be auctioned and accrued monies gotten from the sales used to finance the annual budget.
They expressed their minds during the presentation made by the EFCC before the Senate Committee on Anti- Corruption chaired by Senator Suleiman Andy Kwari.
Director of Operations of the agency Abdulkarim Chukkol, told the Senators that all the Forfeited Assets have been transferred to the OAGF and Minister of Justicein 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
However, the Agency’s Director of Operations stopped short of listing the Assets that were handed over to AGF.
Senators who kicked against the transfer to the OAGF include Senators Abba Moro and Suleiman Abdu Kwari.
But Senator Abba Moro said that he didn’t see the required managerial capacity in the OAGF that’s lacking in the EFCC,adding that the assets need to be disposed off for government to raise money to finance the budget.
Speaking,the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Suleiman Abdu Kwari highlighted that the proceed of crime bill currently before the Senate will address the issue.
He said this is what the proceed of crime bill will address; it will seek to address such ambiguity.
Besides,during the budget defence hearing, Senators complained about the meagre budget allocated to the Anti-graft agency saying that the fund is not enough to fight corruption in Nigeria.
Senator Yusuf Yusuf wondered how could N31 billion be enough to fight corruption in the country.
Senator Smart Adeyemi also complained about 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 on all Senatorial districts if it is not possible to get offices in all the local governments in the country.
He reasoned 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 in 2022 is N31. 3 billion of which N25.8 billion Is earmarked for personnel cost, N3.6 billion for overhead while the sum of N 1.8 billion is for capital expenditure
The Director of Operations of EFCC, informed the Lawmakers that EFCC only have 15 offices across the federation including the headquarters in Abuja .
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