PREAMBLE:

On Thursday the 5th of July 2018, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
signed an order at the Council Chamber of the State on the Preservation of
Suspicious Assets Connected with Corruption and Other Relevant Offences. The
statement of President Muhammadu Buhari at the signing ceremony provides an
insight to the purpose of the Executive order wherein he said: “It has thus become
necessary to re-kit and re-tool our arsenal to be able to effectively tackle
corruption’s perilous counter-attack against the Nigerian State. Accordingly, the
Federal Government of Nigeria has declared a national emergency to deal with
that crisis. In this regard, the Federal Government of Nigeria in line with its anti-
corruption strategy seeks to ensure that the ends of justice is not defeated or
compromised by persons involved in a case or complaint of corruption. It is in
consequence of this that I have decided to issue the Executive Order No. 6 of 2018
to inter alia 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 or for acts of terrorism, financing of terrorism, kidnapping,
sponsorship of ethnic or religious violence, economic sabotage and cases of
economic and financial crimes, including acts contributing to the economic
adversity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and against the overall interest of
justice and the welfare of the Nigerian State.”

IDENTITY OF THE EXECUTIVE ORDER AND MEANING IN CONTEXT:

It is known as Presidential Executive Order No. 6 of 2018 on the Preservation of
Suspicious Assets Connected with Corruption and Other Relevant Offences. The
Executive Order 6 seeks to restrain owners of assets under investigation from
carrying out any further transaction on such assets. It is a non-conviction based
asset forfeiture that provides for the seizure and forfeiture (recovery) of the
proceeds of serious crime, including corruption, without the need for a criminal
conviction.
IMPLICATION OF EXECUTIVE ORDER 6, ON PROPERTY RIGHTS IN NIGERIA

It is trite that the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria recognized,

within legal limits, the individual private rights to property particularly land and its
resources. It provides in section 43 of the 1999 constitution that, ‘Subject to the
provisions of this constitution, every citizen of Nigeria shall have the right to
acquire and own immovable property anywhere in Nigeria’ and goes on to protect
the sanctity of the right by providing in section 44 that ‘No movable property or
any interest in immovable property shall be taken possession of compulsorily and
no right over or interest in any such property shall be acquired compulsorily in
any part of Nigeria except in the manner and for purposes prescribed by law that
among other things: requires the prompt payment of compensation and ensures
parties access to the court for the determination of his interest in the property
and the amount of compensation payable.

The executive order 6, arguably appropriates absolute power to the Government

without recourse to the court of competent jurisdiction to determine the
innocence or otherwise of the accused. The Federal Government is a party that
has interest in the property of a person assumed to be guilty before trial.
Therefore, it implicitly violates section 44 of the Nigerian constitution as it denies
the accused party access to court for the determination of the interests of the
Federal Government in the property before such properties are acquired by the
Government. A hard working diligent entrepreneur may thus be victimized for his
relationship with an assumed corrupt person or political opponent of the ruling
government with the order conscripted as a ploy or alibi to deliberately violate
his/her right to own property in the country. In the nearest future, the misuse of
the order will definitely result in the decline of real estates in Nigeria.
IMPLICATION OF EXECUTIVE ORDER 6, ON TRADE AND INVESTMENT IN NIGERIA
With the coming into effect of Executive Order Number 6, the president hopes to
swoop on the assets said to have been corruptly acquired at home and abroad by
top government officials directly and through their fronts in and outside
government over the years. Besides the purpose of fighting corruption, the
executive order shall affect trade and investment in a multiplicity of ways.

Probable gains of the executive order 6, on trade and investment: It is the

express duty of Government to provide environments that promote trades and
investment through infrastructural development and policy enactment. The
seizure of properties acquired through illicit means without them having the war
chest to fight back using same ill gotten wealth will deter prospective
Government officials from misappropriations and corrupt practices. Such public
funds that are retuned into the treasury or such not pilfered will be used by
government to provide infrastructures such as good access road, constant power
supply, and make funds available for the implementation of other fiscal and
monetary policies. All these create conducive environments for business. Also,
investors may be willing to invest more in countries with low corruption index.

Probable demerits of the executive order 6, on trade and investment:

Partnership is a form of business and prospective investor may wish to partner
with a citizen to start a business. This arrangement thus becomes very risky with
an executive order of this nature in place. An investor may risk not only the value
of the amount invested in the country but may be a victim whose personal assets
may be seized in a foreign country on the basis of been suspected to be a front for
his business partner who is probably corrupt. The body language of the President
portrays that Nigerians are corrupt and a rational investor may thus flee from
investing in Nigeria due to the fact that the executive order 6 may be used to
cripple his business. Although business association is a fundamental right of every
citizen, the executive order places fear of associating with any rich man less he be
termed as a front to perpetrate corrupt acts, thus; the necessity for investors to
think of other countries or withdraw funds already injected into the economy.
The highest demerit is thus the multiplier effect of investors’ fear on trade and
investment has many jobs will be lost needless expecting job creation.
REFERENCES

The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/07/executive-order-6-will-bolster-
development-cso/