Published By Olukayode Idowu
Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has lamented that criminals operating in the country are modernized whereas the state nation’s security agencies are archaic in their operations.
Speaking at the opening of a 3-day anti-money laundering and combating terrorism capacity building for the Ministry of Interior and its agencies in Abuja, Aregbesola said: “We must upgrade our strategies,” noting that the criminals are in the 22nd century in evolvement of crimes while the nation’s security agencies are in the 18th century of crime fighting.
He said time has come for the government to build the capacities of the law enforcement agencies in the country to be able to continually combat the threats of criminal elements and secure the nation.
The Minister lamented that the rise in terrorism and banditry in the country can be traced to the availability of illicit fund gotten from money laundering, which mean that to put a nail to these, battle should be wage and won against money laundering,
He said: “It is in the light of this, that the Ministry and its Agencies, in conjunction with the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, is conducting this workshop, as part of a series of measures to build capacity and effective communication networks among policy, regulatory and law enforcement agencies, in order to strengthen the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism regime in the country.”
He added that: “In this regard, the Ministry, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and indeed the Nigerian Correctional Service all have key roles to play in efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Our target is to ensure that relevant Services in the Ministry develop a cadre of professionals in AML/CFT.”
He said: “Experience has shown that these funds are also used to undermine economic, social and political stability through funding of terrorism and terrorist related activities.
“As terrorism, banditry and other serious cross border crimes continue to proliferate, law enforcement agencies and regulators must work together to prevent, identify, punish and deter financial crimes.”
Aregbesola lamented that: “Over the past decade, Nigeria has increasingly been confronted with the violent and disruptive activities of terrorists. As a result, our laws and policies have been targeted not only to decimate the terrorists, but to target their sources of funding. We are all too aware that risks posed by money laundering on the financial system are constantly evolving.
“It is therefore necessary to continue to take appropriate measures to enhance the capacities of our law enforcement agencies for high profile investigation and diligent prosecution, in order to meet global standards for protecting the integrity of our financial system and prevent it from being used as a safe haven for the movement of illicit funds,” he said.
The Minister said: “Furthermore, as a responsible member of the comity of Nations, Nigeria is committed to meeting the global standards for the integrity of the financial system and prevent it from being used as a safe haven for the movement of illicit funds. Nigeria is also under obligation to comply with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Inter Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa, (GIABA) on strengthening her AML/CFT regime.
Nigeria recently went through a 2nd round Mutual Evaluation of its AML/CFT framework, and its effectiveness, which was carried out by GIABA. While noting that we have made significant progress, Nigeria’s AML/CFT regime was observed to be deficient in many areas in the final Report.”
He said: “This workshop has become imperative as one of the measures of developing and enhancing our collective capacities to more effectively tackle money laundering and terrorist financing in Nigeria. As you may all be aware, criminals use various techniques and mechanism to obscure the ownership of illicitly acquired assets and; introducing illegally obtained funds into the stream of legitimate commerce allows criminals to profit from their illegal activities, taints the financial system and erodes public trust in the integrity of the system.”
Also speaking, the Commandant General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Ahmed Audi said the crime of money Laundering and terrorism financing is an organised one which may be nurtured by the proceeds of illegal oil bunkering and pipeline vandalism.
He said the Corps has expanded its scope of investigative activities to include tracking the movements of proceeds of illegal oil bunkering and pipeline vandalism by thoroughly profiling the suspects and their accounts in order to establish whether funds realised from vandalism is laundered or used in financing terrorism.
He revealed that: “This improvement in our Intelligence and Investigation activities is further enhanced by the introduction of Crime Report Investigation Management System (CRIMS) by Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU). More cases are now being seamlessly thrashed with the aid of the innovation.”
On his part the Controller General of Corrections, Haliru Nababa said a strong economy is a source of national strength hence, any activity which directly or indirectly plunders the national resources of a nation, puts such a nation on a horrific path, leading to humanitarian crises.
The Controller General, who was represented by Controller of Corrections, Meg Okpala said: “It is quite unfortunate that our dear nation has suffered monumental losses that have even threatened the very essence of our collective existence. More disturbing is the fact that a larger percentage of these losses are attributable to the unpatriotic activities of money launderers and terrorism financiers.”