BACKGROUND
The Nigeria President, Muhammadu Buhari on 5 th July 2018 signed the Executive Order 6 of 2018 (EO6) on the preservation of suspicious asset recovered from corrupt officials. This is part of the anti-graft drive by the Federal Government to stamp out corruption in the country.
According to the President, the order was issued to “restrict dealings in suspicious assets subject to investigation or inquiry bordering on corruption in order to preserve such assets from dissipation and to deprive alleged criminals of the proceeds of their illicit activities which can otherwise be employed to allure, pervert and/or intimidate the investigative and judicial processes”.
The executive order reinstates the Federal Government ’s commitment to fighting corruption in the country. The current government came into power on the promise of fighting corruption that has been endemic in the country. This has seen the government introduce policies like the Enforcement of Treasury Single Account (TSA), Implementation of the Bank Verification Number Policy, Whistleblowing Policy, and Signing of the Open Government Partnership amongst other initiatives to stem the tide of the scourge.