THE International Police Organisation (INTERPOL), on Monday, revealed that “hundreds of thousands of dollars” are being laundered out of Nigeria to other African countries and across the world every hour.
The organisation also said money laundering across Africa and the entire world has assumed a monstrous dimension, adding that it would require a concerted efforts of every security agencies in Nigeria and other countries to address.
Garba Baba Umar, the INTERPOL Vice President for Africa, revealed this at EFCC Academy, Abuja when he declared a four-day workshop for Nigerian law enforcement agencies open.
The INTERPOL official, however, said the organisation has launched what he described as “Silver Notices Against Money Laundering”, saying it is in a bid to frontally tackle the scourge of money laundering and illicit financial flows across the world, especially Africa.
“Evidence has shown that every hour, hundreds of thousands of dollars are flowing out of Nigeria to the region and across the world, laundered before it reaches the pockets of criminals to enjoy the profits of their crimes, while the hardworking and honest Nigerians pay the price of crime.
“With every successful laundering of criminal money, our country becomes more prone to crime. More drugs, more fraud, more corruption and more violence. Every time criminal money is successfully laundered, our financial institutions take an additional blow…” Umar said.
He stressed that hard times await money launderers as the Initiative “Silver Notices” would make illicit funds more difficult to launder in any part of the world.
Speaking on the theme of the workshop: “Strengthening Capacity and Coordination against Financial Crimes” Umar noted that financial crimes had become transnational and law enforcement agencies needed regular training for their workforce to be ahead of fraudsters.
He said, “In essence, this Workshop will give us the opportunity to re-examine the challenges of fighting transnational crimes in the country, reassess our strategies, and reaffirm our determination and unity as a country to provide security to our citizens and by extension the global community.”
On his part, the Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, harped on the need for enhanced collaboration in tackling financial crimes.
Olukoyede, who spoke through the Director, Fraud Risk Assessment and Control of the EFCC, Francis Usani, said the complex nature of corruption across the world could only be broken by the might of collaborative actions by every stakeholder.
“The daunting nature of the fight against corruption in Nigeria and the world at large deserve serious collaboration among organizations saddled with the responsibility of fighting corruption”, he said.
In his remark, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Nigeria, Mr Kazuyoshi Matsunaga, described the workshop as an important joint initiative between Japan and Nigeria to combat financial crimes.
He explained that in the contemporary globalized world, financial crimes transcended borders and required international cooperation among law enforcement agencies to combat them.
Similarly, the Director-General of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, Hafsat Bakare, spoke about the imperative of strengthening capacity and coordination against financial crimes, pointing out that “financial intelligence and financial analysis techniques are key to tackling economic crimes.”
The NFIU, she said, was sensitive to the interconnected nature of the criminal justice system, the threat of organized crime and cybercrimes being fought by law enforcement agencies.