BY Dyepkazah Shibayan
The bill seeking to establish the Nigerian Assets Management Agency passed second reading at the house of representatives on Wednesday.
The bill, which is sponsored by Jones Onyereri, a lawmaker from Imo state, seeks to manage to all government assets, including those seized by agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria Customs Services, among others.
Leading the debate on the bill on the floor of the house on Wednesday, Onyereri said the government assets were scattered among different agencies and the value of those assets were not known.
“The purpose of the Nigerian Assets Management Agency bill is to establish an agency that will be charged with the responsibility of managing all federal government-owned assets, including but not limited to assets acquired through court orders, forfeitures and seizures by federal agencies,” he said.
“Prior to this time, federal government assets are scattered among different government agencies without proper coordination as to their proper values and earnings from such assets.”
The lawmaker said one of the objectives of the legislation is to realise “optimum monetary returns” from these assets in pursuance of the provisions of the bill.
“Currently, there exist no amalgamated institutional body charged with the management of federal government assets especially seized and forfeited assets,” Onyereri said.
“What we have is that such assets seizures and forfeitures accruable to the government of Nigeria are scattered or rather held by the respective organisations involved with the seizures and forfeitures.
“Thus, agencies like EFCC, ICPC, police, customs, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), amongst others keep such assets with them without proper records and accountability to the government of the federation.”
Contributing to the debate, Toby Okechukwu, a lawmaker from Enugu, said the bill was necessary as assets seized by the agencies waste away.
“We do not need seized assets to waste away,” Okechukwu told his colleagues.
The bill passed second reading after it was put to a voice vote by Yakubu Dogara, the speaker.
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