NFIU Moves to Bridge Gaps in Combating Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing

Adedayo Adejobi

The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), has said it was working to bridge the gaps in efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing in Nigeria, while also fostering timely information exchange and sharing among members of Financial Intelligence Units within the West Africa Sub-Region.

This, according to the NFIU was because lack of common Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Compliance Standards enabled criminals to move from one institution to other institutions and from one jurisdiction to another to perpetuate crimes ranging from but not limited to money laundering and terrorism financing.

Giving his keynote speech at the 5th Induction Ceremony and Annual General Meeting of the Compliance Institute, Nigeria (CIN), held in Abuja, on behalf of the Director, NFIU, Modibo Tukur, Muhammed Giya, pointed out that anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism were challenging endeavours and special battles of global concern,which could only be won through cooperation, effective coordination and collaboration.

Giya said money laundering and terrorism financing activity in one country could have serious cross-border and even global adverse effects on other countries.
He noted that jurisdictions with weak or ineffective controls were especially, attractive for money launderers and financiers of terrorism.

“These criminals exploit the complexity of the global financial system, the speed at which money can traverse borders, as well as differences between national laws to carry out their concealment objectives,” he explained.

He also said the absence of common AML/CFT compliance standards in Africa and its sub-regions has continued to hinder the effectiveness of the fight against money laundering and the combating of financing of terrorism on the continent.

According to him, “Special money laundering schemes such as Trade-based Money Laundering (TBML) that are cross border in nature can only be defeated through effective collaboration, coordination and extensive use of Technology.

“To foster timely information exchange and sharing between member Financial Intelligence Units in the Sub-Region , NFIU, which is the new Headquarters of West African FIUs Forum, is currently developing Secure Web Exchange Platform to be hosted by the Forum Secretariat for information exchange on money laundering and terrorism financing in the region.”