Senate to consider NFIA Bill Wednesday

The Senate Committee has directed its Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes to submit the report of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Agency Bill for final consideration and passage on Wednesday.

The decision was taken after the general principles and Second Reading of the bill was done on the floor of the upper legislative chamber on Tuesday.

Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over plenary on Tuesday, referred the bill to the Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, to report back on Wednesday.

The implication of the directive is that the bill will not go through public hearing to get the input of stakeholders.

A source who spoke to BusinessDay on condition of anonymity revealed that the issue of conducting public hearings on bills is ‘a matter of choice.

He hinged the decision on the need to ensure that the bill is passed before the upper legislative chamber embarks on annual recess, which commences on Thursday.

Last week, the Senate resolved to give accelerated passage to the bill to avert Nigeria’s expulsion from EGMONT Group.

Checks by BusinessDay on the Senate Standing Orders 2015 (as amended), confirmed that public hearing is not listed among the criteria for passage of bills.

Specifically, Chapter 11 of the Order, which dwells on ‘Categories of Bills’ is silent on public hearing.

Order 77 to 86 which focuses on ‘Procedures on Bills’ listed the processes of bills passage to include: Notice Regarding Bills, Compendium and Consolidation, Presentation and First Reading, Appointment days for Stages of Bills, Second Reading of Bills, Commital of Bills, Scope of Amendments in Committee, Procedure in Standing Committees on Bills, Committee of the Whole Senate, Procedure on Bill in the Committee of the Whole Senate as well as Re-Commital and Third Reading.

The NFIA Bill seeks to establish the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Agency as the central body in Nigeria responsible for requesting, receiving, analysing and disseminating financial and other information to all law enforcement and security agencies and other relevant authorities.

In his lead debate, sponsor of the bill and Chairman Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, Chukwuka Utazi, said the proposal seeks to make the Unit, which is currently domiciled under the EFCC and the backbone of the anti-graft agency, an autonomous and independent body.

The bill proposes that the agency will be domiciled within the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), even as the newly-created establishment will report to the National Assembly in rendering accounts.

Nigeria was recently suspended by the EGMONT Group, citing inability of the Federal Government to make the NFIU autonomous from the EFCC, interference of the acting chairman of the anti-graft agency, Ibrahim Magu in the affairs of the Unit and divulging confidential information concerning the Group to the media.

The Group is a network of national financial intelligence units and the highest inter-govermental association of intelligence agencies in the world, with 154 member countries.

The global body stated that if Nigeria fails to comply with the group’s demands for a legal framework granting autonomy to the NFIU by January 2018, the country will be expelled from the organisation.

If this happens, Nigeria will no longer be able to benefit from financial intelligence shared by the other 153 member countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Italy among others.

Consequently, the development will hamper the country’s ability to recover stolen funds abroad as well as affect the international rating of Nigerian financial institutions by restricting their access to international transactions.

Also, the proposal amends the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act by deleting Sections 1 (2) (c) and 6(l) of the Act and Sections 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 10 and 13 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act.

The Unit, which represents Nigeria at the global body, is charged with tackling money laundering and monitoring financial flows, a task made easy by its membership of the EGMONT Group.

The bill slams a fine of not less than N50million to any financial institution that makes a disclosure likely to be detrimental to a financial intelligence inquiry or falsifies, conceals, destroys documents relevant to an investigation.

In the case of an individual, he/she gets a fine of not less than N10 million or imprisonment for a term of not less than two years or both.

Sources of funding the agency include: take off grants and annual subventions received from the Government of the Federation; budgetary allocations approved by the National Assembly and grants, gifts or donations from international organisations and donor agencies.

 

OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja