As part of efforts geared towards having a legal and institutional framework for the proceeds of crime, the Proceeds of Crime Recovery and Management Agency Bill has been approved by the Federal Government, subject to legislative sanction by the National Assembly.
This was revealed by, Abubakar Malami, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) yesterday after a virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting led by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to Malami, the bill became necessary given the fact that proceeds of crime were previously scattered in different and multiple agencies. He also noted that the institutional component of the bill is to have an agency that will be saddled with the responsibility of managing the assets that constitute the proceeds of crime in Nigeria.
His words: “What happens before now is that the proceeds of crime were scattered all over, and mostly in the hands of different and multiple agencies of government, inclusive of the police, Department of State Services (DSS), Economic and Financial crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offenses Commission (ICPC)”.
Furthermore, Malami added that the new law would move the fight against corruption to the next level of transparency, accountability and, in essence, have in place an agency of government exclusively responsible for anything proceeds of crime.
Conversely, FEC also approved the National Policy on Occupational Safety bill. This new national policy is geared towards ensuring both occupational safety and health of the Nigerian citizenry.
Dr Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment who addressed newsmen stipulated that the new policy was aimed at ensuring the safety of workers at their workplaces across the country. As a matter of fact, the policy was derived from provisions of the constitution and the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) convention.
Mrs Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning stressed that based on the report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the country’s economy was better than expected. In fact, measures were being put in place by the authorities to stabilize the economy notwithstanding the interference instigated by COVID-19.
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