NIGERIA has recommitted itself to the anti-money laundering principles as stipulated by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in the fight against movement of slouch funds and terrorism financing. This is in line with the country’s aspiration of subscribing to the standard barometers of good governance.
This submission was made at the weekend, in Abuja by Vice President Namadi Sambo during the ministerial committee session and 10th anniversary celebration of the Inter-Governmental Action Group on Money Laundering (GIABA).
According to Sambo, the Federal Government would do everything possible to support the efforts by GIABA, an institution which he maintained, is employing the latest technique in a bid to stay on top of the sophisticated methods used by money launderers.
Given the need to nip money laundering activities and the more dangerous phenomenon of terrorism financing in the bud, Nigeria had, through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), also set up the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), which operates as an autonomous central national agency responsible for receiving and analyzing currency transaction reports (CTRs) and suspicious transactions reports (STRs), from financial institutions and designated non-financial institutions. The essence is to disseminate intelligence information arising thereof to law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders.
Speaking through the Minister of Interior, Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho, Vice President Sambo disclosed further that since the setting up of the EFCC 10 years ago, the commission had recovered $11 billion, while its ground operations had stalled many more perilous activities of economic criminals.
He said: “Through GIABA, which the government of Nigeria is very proud of, we hope to be able to reap the fruits of economic stability across the region. The fight against the scourge has become a standard measure of governance; hence, in Nigeria, the necessary legal framework, security and financial safety valves have been put in place to help in the implementation of the FATF principles and realise its goals. Let me reassure the international community that Nigeria is committed to the ideas of the FATF and want the full cooperation of our development partners in this regard”.
President of FATF, Luis Urrutia Corral, who gave a keynote address on The Role of Financial Inclusion in Promoting the FATF Standards, said that it would be “crucial for GIABA member countries to continue their efforts in implementing adequate Counter-financing Terrorism (AML/CFT) systems. Only a few GIABA countries have enacted fully effective terrorist financing laws and, in most countries, the anti-money laundering laws have not kept up with development of the international AML/CFT standards”.
On fight against corruption, Corral noted that corruption and financial inclusion “is a top priority globally as has been drawn attention to by the G20 leaders in their Pittsburgh summit. We are taking corruption into account in our review of the FATF recommendations. That does not mean that FATF will become the standard setter for corruption. It does mean, however, that we are willing to adapt the FATF standards if this would also benefit the fight against corruption.
“We are looking at incorporating some of the aspects of the Merida convention, but we are also considering how existing AML/CFT measures —customer due diligence, beneficial ownership and transparency issues — may also be used in the fight against corruption”.
But the president of the ECOWAS commission, ambassador Victor Gbeho, stressed the need to strengthen the national institutions and to fully comply with international standards since the outcome of evaluation of the GIABA strategic action plan (2007-2009) revealed a commendable level of implementation of 90 per cent of its programmes.
Corroborating this, Director-General of GIABA, Dr. Abdulahi Shehu, lamented that the expression of political will by member states have not often been followed by concrete actions that could convince the international community, increasingly concerned by the threat posed to the sub-region by international crime.
“It is in this difficult environment that we have waged the war, by strengthening the capacity of member states in the fight against these scourges.
We wanted to maximise every community dollar invested, by raising as much investment from member states and technical and financial partners. Significant results have been achieved, thereby earning the recognition of our stakeholders and that of the international community. But considering what yet remains to be done, we cannot be fully satisfied” he added.
This submission was made at the weekend, in Abuja by Vice President Namadi Sambo during the ministerial committee session and 10th anniversary celebration of the Inter-Governmental Action Group on Money Laundering (GIABA).
According to Sambo, the Federal Government would do everything possible to support the efforts by GIABA, an institution which he maintained, is employing the latest technique in a bid to stay on top of the sophisticated methods used by money launderers.
Given the need to nip money laundering activities and the more dangerous phenomenon of terrorism financing in the bud, Nigeria had, through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), also set up the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), which operates as an autonomous central national agency responsible for receiving and analyzing currency transaction reports (CTRs) and suspicious transactions reports (STRs), from financial institutions and designated non-financial institutions. The essence is to disseminate intelligence information arising thereof to law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders.
Speaking through the Minister of Interior, Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho, Vice President Sambo disclosed further that since the setting up of the EFCC 10 years ago, the commission had recovered $11 billion, while its ground operations had stalled many more perilous activities of economic criminals.
He said: “Through GIABA, which the government of Nigeria is very proud of, we hope to be able to reap the fruits of economic stability across the region. The fight against the scourge has become a standard measure of governance; hence, in Nigeria, the necessary legal framework, security and financial safety valves have been put in place to help in the implementation of the FATF principles and realise its goals. Let me reassure the international community that Nigeria is committed to the ideas of the FATF and want the full cooperation of our development partners in this regard”.
President of FATF, Luis Urrutia Corral, who gave a keynote address on The Role of Financial Inclusion in Promoting the FATF Standards, said that it would be “crucial for GIABA member countries to continue their efforts in implementing adequate Counter-financing Terrorism (AML/CFT) systems. Only a few GIABA countries have enacted fully effective terrorist financing laws and, in most countries, the anti-money laundering laws have not kept up with development of the international AML/CFT standards”.
On fight against corruption, Corral noted that corruption and financial inclusion “is a top priority globally as has been drawn attention to by the G20 leaders in their Pittsburgh summit. We are taking corruption into account in our review of the FATF recommendations. That does not mean that FATF will become the standard setter for corruption. It does mean, however, that we are willing to adapt the FATF standards if this would also benefit the fight against corruption.
“We are looking at incorporating some of the aspects of the Merida convention, but we are also considering how existing AML/CFT measures —customer due diligence, beneficial ownership and transparency issues — may also be used in the fight against corruption”.
But the president of the ECOWAS commission, ambassador Victor Gbeho, stressed the need to strengthen the national institutions and to fully comply with international standards since the outcome of evaluation of the GIABA strategic action plan (2007-2009) revealed a commendable level of implementation of 90 per cent of its programmes.
Corroborating this, Director-General of GIABA, Dr. Abdulahi Shehu, lamented that the expression of political will by member states have not often been followed by concrete actions that could convince the international community, increasingly concerned by the threat posed to the sub-region by international crime.
“It is in this difficult environment that we have waged the war, by strengthening the capacity of member states in the fight against these scourges.
We wanted to maximise every community dollar invested, by raising as much investment from member states and technical and financial partners. Significant results have been achieved, thereby earning the recognition of our stakeholders and that of the international community. But considering what yet remains to be done, we cannot be fully satisfied” he added.
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