President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of the Executive Director of Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, Rev. David Ugolor into the Inter-Ministerial Committee on the disposal of all assets forfeited to the federal government.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami (SAN) while inaugurating the 22-member committee in Abuja recently said that the initiative was borne out of the president’s directive in October 2018 following recommendations of the Presidential Audit Committee on Recovery and Management of Stolen Assets and a need for efficient management of the assets. Malami gave the committee 6 months to complete its assignment.

According to the minister, ‘the responsibilities of the Inter-Ministerial Committee include: implementation of provisions of the ATRM Regulations, ensure the transparency of the disposal of Federal Government Final Forfeited Assets.

”Ensure the synergy and collaboration between the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and Law Enforcement and Anti-corruption Agencies, other relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies and the Non-Governmental Organization in the collation of records of all assets. Ensure that information flow on assets are in place.”

“Consistently implement enablers and controls that support decision making and efficiency of service delivery which govern the disposal of assets; and development of targets for the committee in order to measure its performance.

“It is aimed at ensuring proper coordination of the disposal of the federal government’s assets and for promoting a uniform, harmonised and transparent procedure to safeguard the assets recovered by the relevant agencies in line with the anti-corruption drive of this administration,” he said.

Other tasks of the committee are responding to any ongoing Asset Management Audit and the asset performance reports.

President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the establishment of the committee on October 27.

A graduate of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Rev David Ugolor holds two Master Degrees in Agricultural Economics from the University of Benin and Master in Arts (MA) on Corruption and Governance from the University of Sussex, United Kingdom.

Rev. David Ugolor is a committed Human Rights activist and environmentalist with over three decades of extensive experience on governance and development issues. David Ugolor is an ordained minister in the New Apostolic Church and currently the Rector/Pastor of G.R.A Congregation.

He has attended and presented  papers at various local and international workshops/conferences such as the Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) in Washington DC (Dec. 2017), Multi-stakeholder workshop on the United Nations Convention against Corruption and its Review Mechanism (April, 2019), International Expert Meeting on the Return of Stolen Assets in Addis Ababa (May, 2019), Expert Roundtable on Human Rights Principles and Guidelines for the Repatriation and Use of Stolen Assets, Geneva, Switzerland (June, 2019) and World Bank/ IMF Annual Conference in Washington DC, 2018 amongst others.

He has over the years coordinated several successful coalition/networks and campaigns among which are the Publish What You Pay Campaign (PWYP), Jubilee 2000 Campaign, Nigeria Civil Society Network On Stolen Assets, Budget Transparency Network (BTN), Niger Delta Budget Monitoring And Transparency Network, Nigeria Civil Society Network On Water And Sanitation (NEWSAN). He is married with children.