Nigeria on Monday called on the Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) to develop an institutional framework for the enforcement of financial crimes regulations in the sub-region.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, made the appeal at the inauguration of the 27th Meeting of the Ministerial Committee of GIABA, in Abuja.
Mr Fagbemi, who is also the Chairperson of the GIABA Ministerial Committee, said member countries should prioritise their national systems on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism.
According to him, doing so would enable the countries to push their national institutions to perform to the highest of their capabilities and achieve progress in financial crime control.
Mr Fagbemi said, “Our collective commitment to put in place legislative policy and institutional frameworks is necessary to protect the integrity of our financial systems from threats of money laundering, terrorist and proliferation financing.
“As we come to the close of the second round of mutual evaluations, I believe we need to take some time for introspection and an assessment of where we have fallen short.
“In particular, looking at the effectiveness of our AML/CFT/CPF frameworks, it is clear that across the region there is significant room for improvement.
“As we begin preparations for the next round of mutual evaluations, our goal must be to greatly strengthen results and outcomes being achieved by our regulatory, supervisory, law enforcement and prosecutorial authorities.
“We must ensure we go beyond just focusing on technical compliance, to a results-based approach; this will require more efforts and resources than we have deployed so far.”
The attorney-general said the integral nature of the fight against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing to the safety and security of our nations cannot be over-overemphasised.
He said the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Standards are not punitive measures, but tools to ensure safety, security and prosperity in countries, regions, continents and the global community.
Credit: premiumtimesng.com
