Nigeria’s suspension from Egmont Group

Nigeria’s anti-graft war suffered its latest setback as the Egmont Group, an informal network of national financial intelligence units, announced the suspension of Nigeria from the group for failure of the country to comply with its demands for a legal framework granting autonomy to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU). The group, which provides the platform for monitoring and secure exchange of expertise and financial intelligence on international money laundering and terrorist activities, also threatened to expel Nigeria from the global body if by January 2018, the country has not provided for the independence of the unit. Recommendation 29 of the international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) was very clear that FIUs must be independent institutions free of interference from anybody or institution.

At a time when Nigeria desperately need help and intelligence from the 154-member group to trace and retrieve stolen funds stashed in safe havens abroad by corrupt Nigerian officials, this is perhaps, one of the greatest blows to this administration’s trumpeted fight against corruption.  In the event that Nigeria is expelled, it will cease to benefit from financial intelligence shared by the other 153-member countries. How sad!

But that is not all; Nigerian financial institutions and financial transactions will also be affected. Nigerian banks will be unable to issue global card payment services and settle international transactions. Effectively, Nigeria will be cut off from the international financial system.

Whereas the Egmont Group expressly demanded that the Nigerian government make the NFIU autonomous in its funding, operations and management of intelligence, the NFIU continued to be domiciled at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with reported frequent interferences by the EFCC hierarchy and consequently, the Nigerian government.

All correspondences and warnings the Group reportedly sent to the Nigerian attorney-general to take urgent actions to make the NFIU autonomous were ignored. This just shows how disorganised Nigeria’s government is the levity with which they treat important issues and agreements entered into.

We recall the valiant efforts made by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration to get Nigeria removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list of non-cooperating countries with respect to combating money laundering and admitted into the Egmont Group in 2007. This effectively removed Nigeria from the international credit blacklists, which had hitherto prevented Nigerian financial institutions from dealing with other global financial institutions.

But no sooner had the administration performed that feat, which is still being regarded as one of its biggest achievements, than successive administrations, in typical Nigerian fashion, began to interfere with the operations and undermine the independence of the NFIU leading to constant leakages of sensitive intelligence to the media and those being investigated contrary to the global best practices the country signed up for.

It is well that the threat to expel Nigeria from the group has jolted the Senate, which has now mandated its committee on Anticorruption and Financial Crimes to submit, within the next four weeks, a draft bill that will lead to the setting up of a substantive and autonomous NFIU legally and operationally.

But the same bill was sent to the National Assembly in 2013 and special interests were jostling to put the unit under agencies and or ministries they control. Eventually, various versions of the bill were passed by the two arms of the National Assembly and was never harmonised.

This charade going on in the name of governance in Nigeria must stop. It not only makes a mockery of the country in the international community, but gives an impression that Nigeria is not a country that can be trusted to do the right thing. This is not good for the image of the country.

We also hope the fight over the status of Magu as EFCC chairman will not ultimately derail efforts to meet the deadline set by the group and save Nigeria the shame of expulsion.