The Nigeria Financial
Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has been separated from the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of
the EFCC, disclosed this when he appeared before the senate committee on
anti-corruption and financial crimes on Wednesday.
Magu was at the upper legislative
chamber to defend the 2017 budget of his agency.
He said from January 1, 2018,
NFIU would begin to operate as an independent organisation.
“We have allowed NFIU to go. They
are operationally autonomy independent of EFCC,” he said.
“We have given them financial
autonomy. We presented a proposal of N2.9 billion for the takeoff of the agency
in the 2018 budget, but the budget office proposed N800 million.
“They will start operating as an
independent unit from January 1, 2018.”
In July, TheCable reported how
Egmont Group, a global body which has representatives from 156 countries,
suspended Nigeria.
The group provides the backbone
for monitoring international money laundering activities.
The suspension, which was
announced at the Egmont Group meeting held in China from July 2 to July 7,
2017, was caused partly by the failure of the federal government to pass a law
making NFIU autonomous.
The group had warned that if
Nigeria failed to comply with its demands for a legal framework granting
freedom to the NFIU by January 2018, the country would be expelled.
It also mandated the government
to make NFIU autonomous in its funding, operations and management of
intelligence.
Less than a week after TheCable’s
report, the senate passed the Nigeria intelligence financial agency (NFIA) bill
to remove the unit from the control of the EFCC.
Initially, Magu opposed the move
to separate the unit from the EFCC, describing it as “corruption fighting
back”.
“I understand the workings of
Financial Intelligence Units around the world and they are domiciled in law
enforcement agencies based on their credibility,” he had told select editors in
Abuja.
“This is another way of
corruption fighting back; people are fighting and pretending to be in support
of what is ongoing, but they are not giving a face to the fight against
corruption.”
With the autonomy given to NFIU,
Nigeria would continue to enjoy the platform for members to share expertise and
financial intelligence to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everydayAdvertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com