The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) is set to meet experts in Addis Ababa to share its field experience from monitoring the $322.5 million being deployed to the poorest of the poor under the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme of the federal government’s National Social Investment Programme (NISP).
ANEEJ was invited by the United Nations to the international expert meeting on the return of stolen assets, organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the Governments of Ethiopia and Switzerland, being held in Addis Ababa from 7 to 9 May 2019.
The Chief, Conference Support Section, Corruption and Economic Crime Branch of the UNODC, Brigitte Strobel-Shaw, who invited ANEEJ Executive Director, the Rev David Ugolor to the expert meeting said, “the purpose of the meeting is to provide a forum for dialogue among asset recovery practitioners and policy makers for the development of draft good practices in asset return, taking into account the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the United Nations Convention against corruption which recognizes the return of assets as a fundamental principle.”
She said, the meeting will analyse successful asset return cases, as well as trends and developments in asset return, thereby identifying common obstacles to international cooperation in the return of assets and innovative ways of overcoming them.
“The meeting will assess, based on lessons learned, whether there are any good practices emerging from the past experience. The outcome of the meeting will be presented to the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Asset Recovery at its next meeting.”
ANEEJ helmsman, Rev Ugolor, through a press release in Abuja said the organisation would be presenting the Success Story of Mantra being supported by the British Department for International Development (DFID) under its Anti-Corruption in Nigeria (ACORN) programme.
He said it is a partnership between the government of Nigeria, Civil Society drawn from the six geo-political zones of the country and the international community and we are excited to share our story. We are happy to share it to the whole world as a model that works…,” Ugolor stated.
Engr. Ralph Ndigwe, Executive Director of Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre (CIRDDOC), Ralph Ndigwe said a process that ensures that returned loot are not re-looted in a country where corruption has been an age-long problem is really heart-warming and they are happy that our lead partner, ANEEJ has been invited to share our success story to a UN expert meeting in Addis Ababa.
Ugolor said that last Month, ANEEJ was invited to present the MANTRA Model at the French Senate as they explore legislative framework on Asset Recovery and by the end of this Month, the MANTRA Model will be showcased at the Open Government Partnership Summit in Ottawa, Canada, where a Panel Section on Asset Recovery is being organized by ANEEJ.
He said MANTRA is an innovative project that aims at supporting the Nigeria Government’s efforts to recover and manage stolen assets in a more accountable and transparent manner. It is being supported by UK Aid under the Anti-Corruption in Nigeria (ACORN) programme of the DFID.
