Nigeria has been selected to serve as the regional headquarters of the Forum of West Africa Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs).
This followed the unanimous vote of confidence in Nigeria by the Forum yesterday in Dakar, Senegal
Following the development, the body unanimously accepted to relocate the Headquarters of its Forum to Abuja, Nigeria, from its temporary site in Cotonou, Benin Republic.
The work of the forum is to coordinate intelligence sharing among state parties of ECOWAS and members of the Chad Basin countries on money laundering, terrorism financing, financing of proliferation of weapons and all other criminal activities.
A statement signed by Ahmed Dikko, NFIU Chief media analyst, on Thursday, in Abuja stated that the activities of the regional body would now be coordinated from Nigeria.
“It was agreed that the Nigerian Financial intelligence unit (NFIU) will host the Headquarters temporarily and gradually nurture it to an independent regional Headquarters,” the statement said.
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The statement added that in addition to intelligence exchange among FIUs, the forum would also coordinate general information sharing among law enforcement, regulators, Defence and National security agencies across the sub region.
The development is seen as a big boost for the newly created NFIU with the responsibility of ensuring best financial practices in Nigeria, especially in governments across the federal, states and local governments.
Following the passage of the NFIU Act, the body was moved from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as an independent entity charged with the responsibility of ensuring transparency in financial transactions
The NFIU recently took the battle of financial transparency at the Local governments to the Nigeria Governors Forum NGF, where it asked the Governors to hands off control of local government funds.
With the support of the country’s judicial system, the NFIU is on the verge of wrestling financial autonomy for local government which will expectedly enhance development at the grassroots.
