Purpose: This study examines how Nigerian embassies, high commissions, consulates and permanent missions can be integrated into the country's machinery for treaty implementation, transnational crime control and the recovery of illicitly acquired assets held abroad.Research Methodology: A qualitative documentary design was used. Nigerian legislation, international conventions, institutional mandates, asset recovery case records and peer-reviewed literature were analyzed thematically through the lenses of International Regime Theory and Transnational Crime Governance Theory.Results: Nigeria has an extensive legal base for mutual legal assistance, extradition and confiscation, yet outcomes are held back by delayed or incomplete requests, fragmented institutions, weak links between diplomatic and criminal justice actors, beneficial ownership opacity and limited technical capacity. Missions hold host-country knowledge that rarely reaches investigators in a structured way.Conclusions: Legal instruments alone do not produce recoveries. A Foreign Missions, Justice and Law Enforcement Asset Recovery Framework built on designated focal officers, secure case tracking and transparent handling of returned assets would convert commitments into results without giving diplomats investigative powers.Limitations: The study relies on published documents and did not include interviews or confidential case files.Contributions: The article repositions foreign missions as structured diplomatic interfaces within asset recovery and offers an operational model for Nigeria and comparable states.
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