ECOWAS to demand interest on stolen artefacts

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Chairman, Ola Olukoyede said the Economic Community of West African States would develop a protocol to address the issue of stolen artefacts from ECOWAS countries.

He noted that the United Nations and other asset recovery protocols do not address the issue of stolen artefacts and other unique needs of ECOWAS countries.

Olukoyede, who is the President of the Network of Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa, spoke at the 6th Annual General Assembly of the organisation 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 stated that the protocol would ensure that the stolen artefacts are not only returned but that interest is paid on the revenue generated 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.

“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.”

Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, Musa Aliyu urged ECOWAS countries to leverage technology in their fight against corruption.

He said, “We must enhance our fight against corruption through digitalization. Utilising technology and digital tools can aid anti-corruption operatives in identifying and dismantling corrupt networks. Corruption’s sophisticated nature demands innovative strategies and technology to effectively implement the ECOWAS protocol.

“A well-implemented digital policy can strengthen institutions and foster international cooperation.”