Abstract
Corrupt politicians, as well as political office holders in Nigeria, go to great extents to conceal their ill-gotten assets by using different proxies, milky jurisdictions and murky Business structures. The process of tracing the whereabouts of these illicit or stolen assets is herculean. It is important to acquire a good understanding of the means used to conceal the assets and the jurisdictions where they might be hidden. The immensity of the Diplomacy involved has cripples the efforts of the Government to repatriate its looted funds; seeking the cooperation of the suspects involved to assist in giving vital information is such a big obstacle that has accounted for why billions of state assets, which have been frozen by the foreign authorities, are yet to be repatriated back to Nigeria. Repatriating stolen assets are costly, time-consuming and tedious. It entails more than just signing bilateral agreements. It involves chiseled Legal frameworks; projected towards securing the looted funds. What are the Legal frameworks required in repatriation of looted fund to Nigeria? To what extent has the legal frameworks been effective in repatriation of looted fund in Nigeria. The paper recommends that for an effective repatriation of looted fund, government must among others, adopt well-defined legal framework that should be applied in repatriation proceedings rather than the traditional criminal justice system. The article proposes some strategies for repatriation of looted funds with a caution that government must have a strong political will and sustainable efforts to tackle the menace and engage requested States.
Keywords: Repatriation, Diplomacy, Public fund, Ill-gotten assets, Public office holder