The Senate has expressed worry over the threat to expel Nigeria from the EGMONT Group of 154 countries sharing financial intelligence and declared that the expulsion could be very tragic to the country’s economy.
The upper legislative chamber adopted the submission of its Committee on Anti-corruption and Financial Crimes which pointed out that Nigeria would most likely be expelled next week by the group because the bill to make Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) an independent entity has not been passed by the National Assembly.
The bill to grant financial and operational autonomy to the unit, which has been passed by both legislative chambers, is before the conference committee of the National Assembly, which is required to harmonise the discrepancies in both versions of the legislation.
Both Senate and House of Representatives have held different positions on the issue.
While the Senate argues that the NFIU should be removed and made independent of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the House of Representatives wants the unit to remain under the EFCC but granted financial autonomy.
Recall that the Egmont group, which is a global network of 154 Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), had earlier suspended Nigeria in July 2017 following the consensus by the members of the group at the 24th plenary of the group in Macao, SAR.
If expelled, Nigeria will suffer a blacklist in the global finance sector and Nigerian Banks will be unable to issue Mastercard and Visa credit/debit cards while card transactions with Nigerian originated cards will be blocked meaning Nigerians cannot do foreign transactions.
Chairman of the Senate anti-corruption committee, Chukwuka Utazi, accused his counterpart in the lower legislative chamber, Kayode Oladele, of derailing the process of having a legal framework that would guarantee independence of the NFIU, currently domiciled with the anti-graft agency.
Utazi reminded his colleagues that the deadline given to Nigeria expires this month.
He said: “In July last year, Nigeria was suspended by Egmont Group with a threat to expel the country in March this year. This is coming up on the 11th of March, which is next week. If we do not put our house in order, we will be expelled.
“The expulsion will come with severe consequences. Our financial banks will not be able to do anything; Our banks and foreign transactions will no longer amount to anything. We will be degraded. Even the corruption index we are complaining about will be a child’s play to what we are going to face in few day’s to come.
“This Senate passed the bill within a record period of eight working days because of the importance and urgency. That was the first bill to have gotten such a speedy passage in this Senate. I came with a motion earlier to explain issues of what were on ground.
“The House of Representatives also took its time to pass this bill. A Conference Committee had been constituted. I have been calling my counterpart in the House of Representatives. The first meeting was stalled. They said the leadership was meeting over the issue.
“We called for another meeting. Each time I call for this meeting, my counterpart in the House of Representatives will always tell me that he is attending one meeting or another. Even this morning (yesterday), I sent him a message and he said he was attending a budget defence meeting. I told that this meeting was more important. He knows what is at stake.
“I am bringing this issue to public knowledge that this Senate is doing its job. This Senate is doing its duty. If anything should happen or Nigeria is suspended, it will not be as a result of the failure of the Senate to act on this issue”.
In his remarks, Senate President Bukola Saraki, who expressed shock that the two chambers of the National Assembly had not harmonised their differences on the Bill, said he would immediately discuss with House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara to ensure a timely enactment of the law.
“This matter has been discussed at the leadership level and a Conference Committee was set up. I am surprised that this meeting has not taken place. I will meet with the Speaker of the House of Representatives and I will remind him of the decision we took so that he can direct the chairman in the House of Representatives on this.
“Both of you will work on it as fast as you can so that we can transmit this bill to the President before the next Egmont meeting in order to save this country. We will take action,” Saraki stated.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
