The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) and the Executive Director of CLEEN Foundation, Mr Peter Gad have launched a website on the utilisation of international recovered assets on Thursday in Abuja.
Unveiling the civil society organisations’ website during a “Public Engagement On The Monitoring And Use Of International Recovered Asset And Launching Of The Civil Society Organisations’ Website,” organised by Ministry of Justice, Malami who was represented by the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation, Babadoko Mohammed, disclosed that CLEEN Foundation was appointed by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the USA Government as the civil society organisation to monitor the utilisation of recovered assets in 2021.
Briefing audience on the implementation of the tripartite agreement between the Federal Government of Nigeria, United States Government and Balwick of Jersey on the utilisation of forfeited assets monitored by the CLEEN Foundation boss, Gad commended contractors and partners for upholding best practices in executing the projects.
“The CLEEN Foundation on the 10th of February 2021 was appointed by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the USA Government as the civil society organisation to provide effective monitoring of the implementation of the tripartite agreement on the sharing, transfer, disposition, repatriation, and management of the Forfeited Assets. The forfeited funds worth $311.8million (Three hundred and eleven million dollars) is for the benefit of the Nigerian people for infrastructural development namely: Abuja-Kano Road, Second River Niger Bridge and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
“CLEEN Foundation and her consortium partners are required to monitor the utilisation of the forfeited assets. The scope of work is inclusive and not limited to compliance with regards to anti-corruption, anti-human trafficking, procurement practices, forensic auditing, engineering and infrastructure.”
Disclosing CLEEN’s methodology, the Executive Director said, “Since June 2021 – till date CLEEN have embarked on series of on-the-spot checks and unscheduled visits to these locations. Twenty-nine (29) Nigerian citizens domiciled in localities close to the project locations where constructions are ongoing were trained on the methodology to carry out the monitoring functions.
“These monitors were deployed to undertake unscheduled visits to the construction locations. Furthermore, the CLEEN and partners have embarked on four quarterly site visits to the three project locations since the commencement of this project in June 2021.
“The Consortium during her monitoring visitations observed that construction work with regards to the application of the forfeited assets have made substantial progress across the 3 project site locations between June 2021 – date. The quality of work observed appears to be consistent with acceptable standards and contractors are currently working assiduously towards ensuring the timely completion of the project across the 3 locations.”
Gad revealed that CLEEN is determined to engage in massive media awareness to bring the public up to the speed on the utilisation of the International recovered and forfeited assets, hence, the idea of having a dedicated website that is accessible to all.
“The foundation is working towards providing massive visibility for the 3 project locations to intimate Nigerians on the credible work that is happening across the project sites. On the 12th of November 2021, the consortium held a press briefing to intimate Nigerians on the progress of work done around the 3 project sites. Currently, there’s a dedicated website (assestmonitoring.org) which is populated with all the necessary information about the project and will be launched formally today and open to the general public. Four (4) jingles have been produced in Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and pidgin, which has been circulated on different social media platforms and will hit the radio stations across the 3 project locations in the coming week.
The CLEEN Foundation boss concluded that, “While leveraging on the increased level of cooperation between the CLEEN Consortium, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority and the Federal Ministry of Justice, we will be embarking on our 5th quarterly visitations to the project locations in the coming month. CLEEN will continue to update Nigerians on the status of the project through its media handles, the website assetmonitoring.org.ng created specifically for the project and other traditional medium of communication.