Terrorism Financing: Nigeria’s Image Has Improved Globally – NFIU boss

Nigeria’s global image has improved in the face of terrorism financing, money laundering and illicit financial flows, the Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Alhaji Modibbo Ahmed Tukur, said yesterday.

Tukur said the United States Treasury Department, the World Bank and other international financial institutions acknowledged efforts being made by the Muhammadu Buhari administration to stamp out terrorism financing and other illicit financial flows.

The NFIU boss spoke at the headquarters of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps  (NSCDC) in Abuja while addressing participants at the opening ceremony of a two-day training programme on Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing and Proliferation of Small Arms Financing organised by the corps.

He said assets and platforms of the NFIU were available for deployment for all the nine agencies with mandates to fight the scourge.

According to him, there is the need for cooperation and collaboration amongst the agencies to understand the complexities of their assignments.

Tukur noted that the improved image of Nigeria has enhanced the country’s access to foreign loans and capable of landing the country the membership of the Financial Action Task Force.

He said:” There is need for interface amongst all agencies saddled with the responsibilities of fighting terrorism financing, money laundering and illicit financial flows. The interface is very wide and complex. Intelligence sharing is also key in this regard.

“However, we need to work together: ICPC, EFCC, the police, Immigration, Customs, the NSCDC, the NDLEA, among others. We are open for deployment of our assets to facilitate investigation and prosecution of cases. We do not prosecute, arrest or carry out searches, but our assets are available to track down illicit financial flows.

You need to understand the rudiments of money laundering and terrorism financing to be able to fill the gaps in your investigations. And you can only do this successfully by cooperation and collaboration with other agencies because the stakeholders of, for instance, Insurance Commission, are different from the stakeholders to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

“Nigeria is in the list of countries acknowledged by international institutions for doing its best to fight terrorism financing and other organised crimes. We are listed amongst Saudi Arabia, Israel, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The global image of Nigeria has improved in this regard, but we need to do more.”

NSCDC Commandant-General Ahmed Audi said developments in the oil industry, especially incidents of oil theft, oil bunkering and vandalism of pipelines, necessitated the trainings being given the personnel of the corps to fine-tune their skills and update their knowledge about illicit financial flows.

Audi said: “The occasion of this two-day training workshop organised by NSCDC is to enhance the capacity of our investigators and prosecutors to effectively handle cases of Money Laundering (ML), Terrorism Financing (TF) and also Proliferation Financing (PF).

“This would also mark a paradigm shift in our investigation activities from focusing only on predicate offences of oil bunkering, pipeline vandalism, illegal mining to trailing the proceeds of these crimes.

“This capacity development workshop is further aimed at implementing part of the Mutual Evaluation Report recommended actions which would not only ensure Nigeria’s successful exit from the ICRG/GIABA’s enhanced follow up process but pave way for the eventual membership of Nigeria into the Financial Action Task Force (FATAF).

“This is a task that must be achieved. All hands must, therefore, be on deck to ensure that such dream is realised.”