FG Urges Synergy, Information Sharing in Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing War
Alex Enumah
The federal government has called for synergy and information sharing among stakeholders in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing in the West Africa sub-region.
The call was predicated on the need for effective collaboration, owing to new and dynamic methods deployed in round tripping ill-gotten wealth around the globe.
The Vice Chairman of the Compliance Institute of Nigeria, Mr. Buhari Isah, made the call at the ongoing 2022 West Africa Compliance Summit, taking place in Abuja.
The summit organised by Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) drew participants from member States of the West Africa sub-region.
Isah in a keynote address stressed the need for stakeholders in West Africa to come together and develop effective policies and mechanism that would effectively checkmate illicit financial flow not only in the sub-region but globally.
He charged participants to be open and, “share experiences and ideas on how to improve cooperation and collaboration among all stakeholders for the benefit of the region.”
Meanwhile, Nigeria has been commended for its leadership role in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing in the West African region.
The Director General of GIABA, Justice Kimelabalou Aba, in his remarks, stated that recent steps taken by Nigeria, including the passage into law of three important legislations to address identified strategic deficiencies, clearly demonstrated Nigeria’s commitments in the illicit financial flow war.
“I also wish to congratulate Nigeria for winning two awards relating to its mentorship role and contributions to enhancing the qualities of mutual evaluation and Follow-up reports during the 37th GIABA Plenary held in Saly, Senegal from May 29 to June 3, 2022.
“Indeed, this is a recognition of the country’s leadership role in the region,” Aba said.
The DG however noted that there were still some challenges in the implementation of the current AML/CFT in the region.
He stated that to tackle the challenges require, “greater coordination and synergy between national authorities and private sector operators to enhance awareness of, and provide collective responses to the emerging ML/TF threats as well as leverage on the opportunities provided by technologies for effective implementation of AML/CFT preventive measures.
“It is against this backdrop that the Secretariat has organised this Summit to bring together critical players, particularly supervisory/regulatory authorities, financial intelligence units, financial institutions and DNFBPs to discuss some of these contemporary and emerging ML/TF issues that impact on the implementation of AML/CFT regime in the region.”
Earlier, Nigeria’s Director, National Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and GIABA National Correspondent, Mr. Mohammed Jiya, said the theme of the 2022 Summit: ‘Current and Emerging Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Issues,” was apt and timely because three out of top 10 countries in 2022 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) were from the West African sub region.
Jiya stated that the summit was therefore aimed at, “providing a platform for participants to share experiences and foster cooperation and collaboration towards the protection and prevent of FIs and DNFBPs from ML and TF, promote awareness on emerging money laundering and terrorist risks as well as share best practices in this regard.”
