The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) says a
report that N18 billion was moved by the Islamic State in West African Province
(ISWAP) through the country’s financial system is stale.
On Sunday, the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money
Laundering in West Africa, a body established by the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS) to check the flow of illicit funds, said about N18
billion generated from trading and taxing communities yearly in the Lake Chad
region was moved through the country’s financial system.
In its 2021 mutual evaluation report, the group said
President Muhammadu Buhari failed to confiscate the assets of terrorists as
demanded in the global anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing
regulations.
“A study estimated ISWAP’s revenues, deemed larger than Boko
Haram’s, at up to USD$36m annually, much of it from trading activity and
taxation in the Lake Chad region,” the report said.
But in a statement on Monday, Ahmed Dikko, NFIU chief media
analyst, said the report by the organisation is based on a 2019 country
evaluation report “which is literally stale and irrelevant today”.
“It is to the knowledge of the international community, our
populace and the formal media organisations that several arrests were made
through the ongoing Operation Service Wide approved by President Muhammadu
Buhari at the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA),” Dikko said.
“The exercise is continuing and far from over. In addition
all funding of violence from all sections of the country are being evidently
analysed and reported to all relevant authorities according to law.
“It is true that
recently Nigeria fell victim to illicit financial flows but overt and far
reaching efforts are being executed by the government to stem the bad practice.
“The ECOWAS body released its report to justify putting
Nigeria’s Financial System under enhanced review process alongside other
countries in the Sahel.
“We had formally faulted the report to the ECOWAS body while
agreeing to partner with them to carry out further review processes to jointly
attain global best practices on all counter measures against local and cross
border violent crimes disturbing the entire West Africa presently.
“All our neighbours have proofs of our exchange of terrorist
financial intelligence with them real time.”
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