The Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre), in collaboration with the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF), will convene a one-day stakeholder workshop aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s capacity to trace, recover and repatriate illicitly acquired assets.
The workshop, scheduled for Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at Abuja, will bring together financial intelligence analysts, anti-corruption practitioners, prosecutors, judicial officers, civil society organisations and investigative journalists.
The hybrid format event tagged, “Strengthening Anti-Corruption Capacity & Asset Tracing Frameworks in Nigeria,” will focus on strengthening practical approaches to asset tracing and recovery, improving inter-agency intelligence sharing, and advancing whistleblower protection mechanisms.
Key regulatory and enforcement institutions expected to engage with the initiative include the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
According to HEDA’s Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, the workshop is being convened against the backdrop of increasingly sophisticated methods of concealing illicitly acquired assets, including the use of offshore companies, complex corporate structures, real estate and digital assets.
“Strengthening anti-corruption enforcement requires approaches that go beyond investigating and prosecuting individuals to systematically identifying, tracing, freezing, recovering and repatriating the proceeds of corruption.” Suraju added.
The workshop will therefore provide a platform for participants to examine modern asset-tracing methodologies, including the use of Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT), as well as explore legal and technical frameworks for cross-border asset recovery, Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA), and the effective integration of whistleblower-generated evidence into financial crime investigations and prosecutions.
“Asset recovery must remain a central component of Nigeria’s anti-corruption efforts. Strengthening the capacity of relevant institutions to trace complex financial networks, share intelligence and protect those who provide information is essential to ensuring that corruption does not pay,” Suraju maintained.
The workshop is expected to strengthen technical capacity among relevant stakeholders while creating practical pathways for sustained collaboration between enforcement agencies, civil society organisations and the media in the fight against corruption and illicit financial flows.
