•••Bakari upbeat about Nigeria’s exit from FATF grey list
By Chisaa Okoye (Business Reporter)
The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) says it has strengthened its technology platforms with the planned deployment of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning tools to further enhance its operational efficiency in information and data analysis.
Also, the agency says the Crimes Records Information Management System (CRIMS) has been deployed to “more competent authorities and states of the federation to further support information sharing through a secured and encrypted tool.”
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO)of the NFIU, Hajiya Hafsat Bakari, disclosed this at the opening session of the first NFIU Management Staff Retreat held in Abuja on Monday, August 19, 2024.
According to the CEO, the deployment of these highly advanced technologies would further boost the NFIU’s operational duties and fast track its processes.
“Our primary role is to ensure that we are able to leverage the multiple sources of information and data we have access to, in order to provide National and International competent authorities with the intelligence they require to investigate crimes and prosecute criminals.
“The NFIU has also strengthened its technology platforms with the planned deployment of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning tools to assist us in our operational duties in the analysis of information and data in order to fast track our processes. The Unit is already in conformity to the federal government policy of a paperless working office environment.
“Additionally, the Crimes Records Information Management System (CRIMS) has been deployed to more competent authorities and states of the federation to further support information sharing through a secured and encrypted tool”, she said.
“Furthermore, recognizing that our remit extends beyond the borders of Nigeria and also that the nature of serious crime is trans-national, and the proceeds of crime knows no borders or boundaries, we have strengthened our international partnerships.”
She noted that apart from being the permanent secretariat for the west African forum of FIUs covering 17-member state in Africa, the Nigeria has taken a lead role in re-invigorating the Lake Chad and Sahel network of FIUs which are cooperating to tackle terrorism financing.
The NFIU boss stated that efforts are in top gear to remove Nigeria from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.
To this end, she said that the NFIU has developed a robust and innovative organizational structure, prioritizing high-risk predicate offenses and enhancing domestic cooperation to contribute to ongoing law enforcement and regulatory actions.
“At a global level, we continue to lead Nigeria’s efforts to exit the Financial Action Task Force list of jurisdictions under monitoring, the so-called “grey- list”. While we still have some remaining steps to take, I am confident that with your support we will complete all the required steps within the next few months. Indeed, the progress that we have made as a country have opened the path for us to becoming the second African member state of the Task Force in the near future after South Africa.
“We will focus our international collaborations by increasing cooperation with jurisdictions which pose specific money laundering and terrorist financing threats to our country, particularly countries where organized criminal groups, ostensibly of Nigerian origin, have damaged our country’s reputation”, she stressed.
Also speaking at the event, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, commended the significant role the NFIU plays in combating Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing.
He noted that to fund the agenda 2050, Nigeria needs the necessary revenues in place to generate revenues.
“Our credit rating should improve better, we have to take measures, set up committed institutions, and believe we should benefit from it to enhancethe integrity and soundness of the financial system”, he said.
Below is full speech by the CEO:
Welcome Remarks by the Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Hajiya Hafsat Bakari
at the Opening Sessions of the 1st NFIU Management Staff Retreat
19th August 2024
1. It is a singular honour and pleasure to welcome you to the Opening Session of the 1st NFIU Management Retreat this morning. I am particularly delighted with the participation of a wide range of our partners and stakeholders, senior government officials at the highest level, law enforcement and supervisory authorities, representatives of the private sector and the international community.
2. This is a testament to the importance of the efforts we are collectively making to combat the many serious challenges that face us as a nation as we seek to protect our global economic systems from the threats of money laundering, terrorist financing, proliferation financing of small arms and weapons of mass destruction, violent crimes and other serious organized crimes.
3. On the mandate of the NFIU, I am going to quote the words of Mr. President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR who in the year 2022 as a presidential candidate said and I quote “We are not here to do what is comfortable. We are here to do what is right for our people and our country. We are here to answer to a greater, higher calling. That calling is the love of Nigeria. We dare not miss this chance because we cannot be sure of another” (End of quote).
4. The NFIU sits at the nexus of the law enforcement and regulatory architecture under-pinning the country’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation framework. Our primary role is to ensure that we are able to leverage the multiple sources of information and data we have access to, in order to provide National and International competent authorities with the intelligence they require to investigate crimes and prosecute criminals.
5. This role by necessity ensures that we must take a collaborative approach to our work. We recognize that without all of you, from the institutions that act as gatekeepers, to the competent authorities that follow the money, the prosecutors and judiciary that ensure appropriate sanctions are applied for violations of the law, our work counts for very little.
6. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a summary of the steps we have taken to ensure that we effectively play our role in this collective endeavour to protect our national and economic security, and the phenomenal achievements recorded since my assumption of office.
7. Recognizing the myriad threats we face, the dynamic nature of the criminal environment, and the vulnerabilities that exist within our domestic context, we developed and implemented a robust and innovative organizational structure which aligns our capacities and resources to the sectors of the economy that are most vulnerable to abuse by money launderers and terrorist financers. This allows us to prioritize our response to the highest risk predicate offences in our country and enables us to better serve our stakeholders and partners with timely, credible and actionable intelligence, as well as facilitating more effective cooperation with all of them.
8. To support this new structure, we embarked on a strategic re-engagement exercise. Most of the Chief Executive Officers in this room, would have at some point in the past few months received a visit from the management of the NFIU. The purpose of these visits was to receive direct feedback from the agencies we work with on a daily basis and to use these interactions to improve our operations. These engagements have led to the establishment of several joint task forces and inter agency committees to strengthen our mutual cooperation in tackling criminal activity. We have also engaged extensively with the private sector, who provides source reports that have been invaluable in shaping our internal operations.
9. I would like to re-assure you that we do not intend to rest on our oars. And this is the primary purpose of convening this session and the retreat that the management of the NFIU will be embarking on, over the next few days. We will continue to enhance our domestic cooperation. Our goal is to be able to contribute on a real-time basis to ongoing law enforcement and regulatory actions. We will prioritize engagement and collaboration to enhance public- private and private-private partnerships in order to ensure that we leverage on the depth and breadth of information that hitherto had been held in multiple silos.
10. Today, we will be hearing from our stakeholders and partners and we will be listening to you carefully as you provide us with your views on how we can continue to improve our performance. We will take these lessons with us as we develop and refine what I expect to be an ambitious five-year strategic plan, which I hope to share with all of you in the next few weeks. We have already identified a number of key objectives that we will be delivering on.
11. We will focus on building capacity internally and externally. We have already taken steps towards this with the establishment of the NFIU Training Centre which is intended to be a Regional Centre of Excellence serving both public and private sector stakeholders across the continent. And I am pleased to note that our stakeholders and international partners and some strategic global agencies have already committed their support to this project.
12. The NFIU has also strengthen its technology platforms with the planned deployment of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning tools to assist us in our operational duties in the analysis of information and data in order to fast track our processes. The Unit is already in conformity to the federal government policy of a paperless working office environment. Additionally, the Crimes Records Information Management System (CRIMS) has been deployed to more competent authorities and states of the federation to further support information sharing through a secured and encrypted tool.
13. Furthermore, recognizing that our remit extends beyond the borders of Nigeria and also that the nature of serious crime is trans-national, and the proceeds of crime knows no borders or boundaries, we have strengthened our international partnerships. Apart from being the permanent secretariat for the west African forum of FIUs covering 17-member state in Africa, we have taken a lead role in re-invigorating the Lake Chad and Sahel network of FIUs which are cooperating to tackle terrorism financing. The NFIU was also elected in June 2024 as the Vice Chair of the prestigious Global Egmont Group of FIUs with a membership of 177 countries. The NFIU continues to support our fellow FIUs in the West African region under the leadership GIABA (the FATF-styled regional body representing West Africa) and we have successfully mentored
the FIU of Liberia in being admitted into the Egmont Group. While we continue the mentorship of the FIUs of Gambia and Sierra Leone to achieve the same goal.
14. At a global level, we continue to lead Nigeria’s efforts to exit the Financial Action Task Force list of jurisdictions under monitoring, the so-called “grey- list”. While we still have some remaining steps to take, I am confident that with your support we will complete all the required steps within the next few months. Indeed, the progress that we have made as a country have opened the path for us to becoming the second African member state of the Task Force in the near future after South Africa.
15. We will focus our international collaborations by increasing cooperation with jurisdictions which pose specific money laundering and terrorist financing threats to our country, particularly countries where organized criminal groups, ostensibly of Nigerian origin, have damaged our country’s reputation.
16. Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am a firm believer in cooperation and collaboration. I believe that if we work together in true partnership our success is not only possible it is guaranteed. I would like to seize this opportunity to pledge to you the commitment of the NFIU to an open, transparent and productive working relationship with all our stakeholders. As the often-cited phrase from Margaret Mead goes, “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”. I believe that together we are the change that we seek for our country.
17. Let me conclude by extending our deepest gratitude to Mr. President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR for his unwavering committed leadership and invaluable support to the NFIU. Mr. President Sir, we are immensely grateful and plead for more support for the NFIU. Our appreciation goes to all the Interministerial Committee on AML/CFT/CPF line ministers, the Honourable Attorney- General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Honourable Minister Finance and the Honourable Minister of Interior, for your unalloyed support which makes our work so much easier at the domestic and international fronts.
18. To the Governor of the Central Bank, all the Deputy-Governors and other management staff of the CBN for their parental care and continues immeasurable support and assistance from the inception of the Unit as an autonomous and independent Unit domiciled within the CBN. To the National Security Adviser for his leadership and the example he has set for us all, we want to inform this audience that the National Security Adviser Mallam Nuhu Ribadu is the founding father of Financial Intelligence Units in West Africa, at the time he created the FIU only South Africa had an FIU in whole of Africa.
19. I also want to use this opportunity to pay tribute to my predecessor Directors of the NFIU under the EFCC, Mr A.B. Okauru, Mr. N. Sixth Wokoma, Mrs Juliet Ibekaku- Nwagwu and Mr Francis Usani under whose tenure the NFIU got its autonomy. To my immediate predecessor Mr. Modibbo R. HammanTukur who laid the foundations of an independent and autonomous NFIU, thank you for bringing us to where we are today.
20. To my fellow Chief Executive Officers and all stakeholders and partners who have shared in our successes and difficulties, we are immensely grateful.
I would also like to acknowledge with gratitude the support and assistance
provided by our global diplomatic and development partners and stakeholders. 21. I cannot end this speech without giving a special recognition to my Chief Operating Officers, Chief of Staff, Divisional Heads, Heads of Departments, Sectional Head and all staff of the NFIU for their sacrifices, commitments and courage in the herculean task of working in an environment where so much is expected of you and in the fight against money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing. You have exceeded all expectations and I am proud of
you. Thank you for your national service.
22. I am going to end my speech with the wise words of one of the greatest
leaders of all time who is proudly our very own Mr. President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR in his new year message to Nigerians where he stated and I quote “Dear Compatriots, take this from me: the time may be rough and tough; however, our spirit must remain unbowed because tough times never last. We are made for this period, never to flinch, never to falter. The socio- economic challenges of today should energize and rekindle our love and faith in the promise of Nigeria. Our current circumstances should make us resolve to work better for the good of our beloved nation. Our situation should make us resolve that this new year 2024, each and everyone of us will commit to be better citizens”.
23. With this beautiful and remarkable quote from our dear President, Ladies and Gentlemen thank you all very much and welcome to the Opening Session of the 1st NFIU Management Retreat.