By Iheanacho Nwosu, Abuja
The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu, yesterday, inaugurated a six-man committee headed by former Director General of the Inter-Governmental Action Against Money Laundering in West Africa, Dr. Abdullahi Shehu, to reposition the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
He specifically tasked the committee which its inauguration is coming on the heels of the recent suspension of the NFIU from membership of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, to take a holistic look at the mandate and operations of the NFIU with a view to coming up with proposals to reposition the agency for greater efficiency.
Other members of the committee are Mr. Chidi Chukwuka from the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC); Mr. Bamanga Bello, Head of the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML); Hajia Jamila Yusuf of the Central Bank of Nigeria; Mr. Udofia Akpan Obot, a former deputy director, CBN, while Mrs. Joke Liman of the EFCC is to serve as secretary
Lauding the credential of the committee members, the EFCC boss reminded them that membership of the Egmont Group was critical to Nigeria’s effort to tackle money laundering and monitoring of financial flows within and outside the country.
He charged the Committee to among others, address the concern of the Elmont Group, by providing the necessary frameworks needed “to coordinate the effective process of amendment of section 1(2)(c) of the EFCC Act to expressly reflect NFIU as an autonomous unit under EFCC so as to provide legal basis or clarity on its operational independence from the EFCC.
He advised them to make recommendations with respect to the funding of the NFIU’s operations, develop career path for the staff of the NFIU; develop protocol for the protection of information and confidentiality, specifically as regards the status of STR information and information deriving from international exchange and procedure for the processing of information held by the NFIU either deriving from STR or from international exchange for legitimate purposes.
Responding on behalf of the members, Dr. Shah expressed delight at the opportunity given to them to serve the country.
“We see this as a call to service; and we assure you that we will ensure that we carry out this task judiciously in order to reposition the NFIU, and ensure that it is autonomous as this will further strengthen the anti-corruption fight”, he said.
He assured that the committee would hit the ground running, as members are familiar with the issues in the anti-money laundering architecture in Nigeria.