By implication, the government agencies under monitoring are - Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and Financial Reporting Council.
The global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has beamed its searchlight on Nigerian agencies over deficiencies in anti-money laundering and terrorism financing.
By implication, the government agencies under monitoring are - Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and Financial Reporting Council.
The anti-money laundering and terrorism financing global watchdog sets international standards that aim to prevent these illegal activities and the harm they cause to society.
Following the abysmal implementation or lack of strict regulations of anti-money laundering and terrorism financing, the global watchdog (FATF) has listed Nigeria in its grey listing among 24 countries under its "Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring."
A statement published on its website titled: 'Black and grey' lists reads:
"The FATF identifies jurisdictions with weak measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing (AML/CFT) in two FATF public documents that are issued three times a year. The FATF’s process to publicly list countries with weak AML/CFT regimes has proved effective.
"As of February 2023, the FATF has reviewed 125 countries and jurisdictions and publicly identified 98 of them. Of these 98, 72 have since made the necessary reforms to address their AML/CFT weaknesses and have been removed from the process."
"This statement, (previously called "Public Statement"), identifies countries or jurisdictions with serious strategic deficiencies to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and financing of proliferation.
"For all countries identified as high-risk, the FATF calls on all members and urges all jurisdictions to apply enhanced due diligence, and in the most serious cases, countries are called upon to apply counter-measures to protect the international financial system from the ongoing money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing risks emanating from the country."
On the Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring (i.e. "grey list"), the statement reads:
"This statement identifies countries that are actively working with the FATF to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing.
"When the FATF places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring, it means the country has committed to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to increased monitoring."
The countries under the Jurisdictions of Increased Monitoring are: "Albania, Barbados, Burkina Faso, Cayman Islands, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gibraltar, Haiti, Jamaica, Jordan, Mali, Mozambique."
Others are: "Nigeria, Panama, Philippines, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Türkiye, Uganda, United Arab Emirates and Yemen."
Two countries namely - Cambodia and Morocco have been removed from the list.
Meanwhile, a source said the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) was working on it, adding that it might have formed part of the issues discussed in the meeting they had with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday.
NGF Director, Media Affairs, AbdulRazaque Bello-Barkindo, in a recent statement said the 36 state governors under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum had concluded arrangements on how to meet with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on how to manage their states’ security votes.
The meeting which he said would hold virtually on Tuesday, April 4 would brainstorm on issues surrounding security votes allocated to states.
In the statement, Director- General of NGF, Asishana Bayo Okauru said the agencies expected to be at the meeting include the EFCC, ICPC, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).