Nigerian progress threatened by unexplained wealth, legal scholar says
Senior Advocate Wahab Shittu has said Nigeria’s development is being held back by wealth acquired through means that cannot be explained. Speaking at the launch of his book on financial law, he called for stronger recovery and prosecution mechanisms while warning against punishing people whose assets were lawfully obtained.
Senior Advocate of Nigeria Wahab Shittu has said Nigeria’s progress is being hindered by wealth acquired through unexplained or illicit means, while urging the country to establish stronger mechanisms for recovering such assets. Shittu made the comments on Monday in Lagos at the presentation of his three-volume book, “Unexplained Wealth: A Trilogy of Nigerian Financial Law”. He said Nigeria possessed substantial human and natural resources, but that much of the country’s wealth was being siphoned away through means that could not be properly explained.
He argued that a system capable of identifying and recovering unexplained wealth would help the country advance. Shittu also cautioned against indiscriminately accusing people of corruption, saying the legal system should not label innocent people whose wealth was acquired through legitimate work. The senior advocate said acquiring wealth was not itself a crime.
He distinguished lawful prosperity from wealth obtained illicitly or in circumstances that defied logical explanation, which he described as indefensible. Shittu said his book was intended to assist the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, investigators, judges, prosecutors and members of the public. He said it could help authorities pursue cases while protecting people who were wrongly accused from unjust punishment.
He said his interest in the subject grew from a case he successfully prosecuted to the Supreme Court involving a former local government chairman in Kogi State. According to Shittu, the case established that someone who acquired assets or income beyond legitimate earnings owed the state an explanation. Shittu said research for the book also showed that Nigeria lacked a specific legislative framework on unexplained wealth comparable with those in the United Kingdom and some other developed countries.
He called for credibility throughout the prosecution process rather than what he described as anti-corruption campaigns conducted through public labelling. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo chaired the book presentation.
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