17 March 2025 –

Africa loses an estimated $88.6 billion annually to illicit financial flows (IFFs), nearly matching the total inflows of foreign direct investment and development assistance combined. These outflows deprive the continent of critical resources needed for economic transformation, infrastructure development, and essential services like healthcare and education. Despite economic progress, IFFs continue to undermine development, fueling poverty and missed opportunities. Over the past three decades, Africa has lost between $597 billion and $1.4 trillion (equivalent to its current GDP) highlighting the urgent need for stronger financial transparency, accountability, and asset recovery efforts.

Asset recovery, as outlined in Chapter V of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), is central to reclaiming stolen public funds, yet most States struggle with effective implementation. While UNCAC resolutions have addressed asset recovery, civil society’s role remains overlooked. The UNCAC Coalition advocates for stronger, transparent, and inclusive asset recovery through international cooperation, better data collection, robust confiscation laws, and frameworks allowing public interest claims and victim representation in legal proceedings.

On March 4, 2025, the 14th Regional Meeting for Sub-Saharan Africa, held in collaboration with the UNCAC Coalition’s Working Group on Asset Recovery, convened anti-corruption champions, policymakers, and civil society organizations (CSOs) to discuss the critical role of civil society in asset recovery efforts. 

Why Civil Society’s Role in Asset Recovery Matters

Civil society organizations play a crucial role in ensuring that asset recovery efforts are transparent, accountable, and benefit the public. Across Africa, several asset recovery cases have demonstrated the importance of CSO involvement in monitoring processes, advocating for fair distribution of recovered funds, and ensuring that corruption does not go unpunished. In Nigeria, for instance, recovered assets from the Abacha loot have been partially redirected to social welfare programs, but without sustained civil society oversight, concerns remain about misallocation. In the Gambia, efforts to recover former President Yahya Jammeh’s ill-gotten wealth have been met with resistance, and CSOs have played a key role in advocating for accountability and transparency in the repatriation process. Kenya has also witnessed high-profile cases of recovered stolen assets, where civil society groups and investigative journalists were instrumental in uncovering corruption schemes and pushing for asset recovery. Across Africa, experiences have shown that without civil society engagement, asset recovery risks becoming a tool for political manipulation, with repatriated funds being misused or re-stolen.

The Common African Position on Asset Recovery (CAPAR)

For decades, Africa has suffered from resource plundering, both historically through colonial exploitation and today through modern-day financial crimes. The Common African Position on Asset Recovery (CAPAR), adopted in 2020 by the African Union, provides a critical framework for addressing this challenge.  CAPAR is a unified stance adopted by African countries to tackle illicit financial flows (IFFs) and recover assets stolen by corrupt officials, criminals, and entities. It advocates for the return of these assets to African nations to support economic development and governance reforms. CAPAR aims to ensure collaboration between African governments and civil society to develop mechanisms for recovering stolen assets, holding perpetrators accountable, and ensuring that recovered funds are used for the public good. Despite growing political will, discussions at the meeting highlighted that efforts to recover stolen assets remain slow, opaque, and ineffective, with limited civil society involvement.

The CAPAR Civil Society Network

The CAPAR Civil Society Network is a coalition of CSOs working to enhance transparency, accountability, and the effective implementation of CAPAR. Facilitated by the Civil Forum for Asset Recovery (CiFAR) The network serves as a platform for knowledge exchange, advocacy, and coordinated action to advance asset recovery efforts across the continent. It aims to strengthen civil society engagement, advocate for policy implementation, enhance public awareness on illicit financial flows, and build capacity through training and resources for CSOs, journalists, and whistleblowers in asset recovery efforts.

CAPAR Assessment Reports and Findings

Recent CAPAR assessments conducted by CSOs across six African countries have provided critical insights into the progress and challenges of implementing CAPAR. These reports reveal significant gaps in legal and institutional frameworks, as well as the need for stronger cooperation between African states and international partners. Key findings include:

• Inconsistent implementation of asset recovery laws across different jurisdictions.
• Weak cooperation mechanisms between African states and international partners.
• Limited transparency and public participation in asset repatriation processes.

Key Discussions and Outcomes

At the regional meeting, experts from anti-corruption organizations, legal experts, and civil society leaders shared insights on asset recovery initiatives across Africa. Some of the major discussions included:

• Sara Brimbeuf and Jackson Oldfield who co-chair the Working Group on Asset Recovery shared that their priority for 2025 is increased transparency on asset recovery including through the Asset Recovery Database Initiative. A project initiated by the Stolen Asset Recovery (STAR) initiative in 2023 which aims to compile and analyze data on asset recovery efforts. This would help civil society organizations track trends, identify champions and laggards, and compare the asset recovery efforts of different countries.
• Nigeria’s Asset Recovery Journey: the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC (the National Chapter of Transparency International (TI) in Nigeria) shared findings from their report which seeks to monitor Nigeria’s progress towards the Common Africa Position on Asset Recovery, highlighting that Nigeria has made significant strides in developing legal frameworks for asset recovery, including the 1999 Constitution, which mandates asset declaration by public officials, and recent laws like the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act (2022) and the Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act (2022). 

Despite these advances, challenges remain in implementing these laws effectively, as demonstrated by Nigeria’s placement on the FATF grey list in January 2023. The passage of the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Bill in 2022 provided a structured approach to asset recovery, but the lack of central coordination among the 10 agencies responsible for asset recovery has hindered progress. These agencies’ failure to maintain public records of recovered assets or provide regular updates further undermines transparency.  While Nigeria has emerged as a regional leader in asset recovery, recovering over $ 5 billion in the past 25 years, the management of these assets remains a major issue. The country has also taken a leading role in regional initiatives like the Common African Position on Asset Recovery (CAPAR), but coordination and citizen engagement are still areas for improvement. The absence of whistleblower protection frameworks and limited public access to asset recovery information creates gaps in accountability

• Michael Oko Davies, Executive Director of Public-Private Integrity (PPI) in the Gambia shared that the Gambia has made notable strides in asset recovery since the 2016 democratic transition, particularly in recovering assets looted during Yahya Jammeh’s 22-year rule. Legislative reforms, such as the 2022 Procurement Act and enhanced public financial management systems, align with international standards. The establishment of the Janneh Commission in 2017 and the 2020 Anti-Money Laundering Act, which gave operational independence to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), have led to significant progress, including identifying over a billion dollars in misappropriated assets. However, challenges such as gaps in institutional capacity, incomplete asset-sharing frameworks, and a lack of mutual legal assistance treaties with countries like Equatorial Guinea have hindered full recovery, particularly in cross-border asset repatriation.

Despite these setbacks, the Gambia has made significant strides in improving its asset recovery framework, with reforms supported by international partners like the African Development Bank (AfDB). The 2023 Recovery-Focused National Development Plan (RF-NDP) institutionalised anti-corruption measures, while the Gambia’s membership in the Asset Recovery Inter-Agency Network of West Africa (ARINWA) has enabled cross-border cooperation, leading to the freezing of $12 million in Jammeh-linked assets. Nonetheless, fiscal constraints, debt sustainability, and enforcement gaps in legislation, such as procurement rules and beneficial ownership transparency, remain significant obstacles. 

The Impact of Funding Rollbacks on Anti-Corruption Work

A key concern raised during the meeting was the significant rollback in development aid and budget cuts by several Global North countries, which has severely affected civil society-led anti-corruption initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa. Countries such as the United States of America, United Kingdom, Germany, and Sweden have recently slashed their international development assistance, citing economic pressures and shifting domestic priorities. These reductions have led to a funding crisis for organizations that rely on external support to sustain their work in advocacy, research, and grassroots engagement in asset recovery. Without sufficient resources, many CSOs are struggling to monitor corruption cases, sustain long-term asset recovery efforts, and push for legal and policy reforms. Participants highlighted the urgency of addressing this funding gap by exploring alternative financing mechanisms. Proposed strategies included diversifying funding sources through private sector partnerships, fostering stronger regional collaborations, and advocating for sustainable domestic funding mechanisms. The discussion underscored the need for African governments and philanthropic institutions to step in and support civil society efforts to ensure that critical anti-corruption initiatives do not stall due to financial constraints.

The Path Forward for Asset Recovery in Africa

The path forward for asset recovery in Africa requires strengthening legal frameworks, improving institutional coordination, and ensuring transparency and accountability throughout the process. Despite progress with initiatives like the Common African Position on Asset Recovery (CAPAR) and the CAPAR Civil Society Network, challenges remain, particularly with inconsistent law implementation and weak cross-border cooperation. Civil Society has proven essential in holding governments accountable and ensuring that recovered assets are effectively used for public benefit, particularly in sectors like healthcare, education, and infrastructure. As African governments, CSOs, and international partners work together, there is a need for greater political will to ensure that asset recovery efforts lead to real, tangible benefits for the people of Africa, transforming the continent’s future by reclaiming stolen resources and reinvesting them into development.