An Assessment of Making a Case for Civil Asset Forfeiture Law in Nigeria

Abstract

Asset forfeiture otherwise called asset confiscation is the seizure of asset of persons who have been tried and convicted of corrupt enrichment and/or other financial crimes. However, the legal huddles inherent in the trial and conviction of such persons accused of corruption and other financial malfeasances, the financial implication involved, including appeals and further appeals up to the Supreme Court makes the entire process distasteful. The non conviction based asset forfeiture, as a routine punishment, is aimed at confiscating the proceeds or instruments of crime. The trial takes the form of civil litigation with the main aim of obtaining a court order nisi, and where the defendant fails to satisfy the court as to the source(s) of his wealth, the court makes an order absolute thus forfeiting the asset of the defendant to the Government in a civil trial. In the United Kingdom, for instance, asset forfeiture proceedings are initiated under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The aim of this research is to, inter alia, make a case for the enactment of a civil Asset Forfeiture Law in Nigeria in order the strengthen the provisions of the Constitution dealing with nonconviction based forfeiture; to aid the activities of anti-graft and other security agencies in the fight against corruption and other financial crimes. The researchers make use of the doctrinal or library-based method of research, therefore, references will be made to both primary and secondary sources of information such as Statutes and other scholarly works. It is the finding of this research that Nigeria does not have a solid legal framework for nonconviction based asset forfeiture law. It is therefore recommended that legislative and institutional reforms be made to strengthen the governments' mandate in fighting 
corruption, and what better way of achieving this than by introducing a law on civil asset forfeiture.