Ola Olukoyede, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, mentioned that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) plans to create a protocol to tackle the problem of stolen artefacts from its member nations.
He pointed out that current asset recovery protocols from the United Nations and other organizations do not adequately address the issue of stolen artefacts or meet the specific needs of ECOWAS countries.
Olukoyede, who also serves as the President of the Network of Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa, made these remarks during the 6th Annual General Assembly of the organization, held in Abuja on Monday.
He said, “Now, talking about the issue of asset recovery, one of the highlights of this engagement is the development of a protocol for asset recovery. Of course, as you know, we’ve been using the existing United Nations protocol. We also have the AU protocol, which has come on board.
“We just felt that those protocols didn’t address some peculiar needs of our subregion.
“For example, you are aware of the issue of repatriation, which has become a major thing, a major outflow of assets and resources out of Africa.
“We are going to use the instrumentality of this protocol to ensure that we address those wide areas that the current protocol we are using, which is the United Nations protocol, did not address. Because these issues are peculiar to Africa. “
Olukoyede also mentioned that the protocol would guarantee not only the return of the stolen artefacts but also the payment of interest on the income earned from them.
He said, “We discovered that there are some artefacts that have been taken to some museums within the Western world, U.S., European countries, and all of that for decades, if not centuries, people have been going into these museums, paying to look at these artefacts. Now, what happened to the proceeds that they’ve generated from these artefacts over the years? It’s not just for them to return the artefacts.
“We’re also going to demand what happened to the proceeds. Again, the issue of just returning our assets the way it was stolen, no. We are also going to place a demand on the need for us to have interest paid on some of this money that has been sitting in banks in some of these Western countries.
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“That is the peculiarity that this protocol is going to bring. That is one of the effects and impacts it’s going to make on the ability and capacity of West African sub-regions.”
Musa Aliyu, the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, encouraged ECOWAS nations to utilize technology to enhance their efforts in combating corruption.
He stated, “To bolster our battle against corruption, we need to leverage digitalization. Employing technology and digital resources can assist anti-corruption agents in uncovering and dismantling corrupt networks. Given the complex nature of corruption, innovative approaches and technology are crucial for effectively enforcing the ECOWAS protocol.
“An effectively executed digital policy can fortify institutions and promote global collaboration.”
