Buhari signs Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit Bill into law

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the Nigerian Financial
Intelligence Unit bill (NFIU) 2018 into law.

NAN reports that the Senior Special Assistant to the President on
National Assembly Matters (Senate), Sen. Ita Enang, confirmed this
development while briefing State House correspondents in Abuja on
Wednesday.

According to him, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) is
the Nigerian arm of the global Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs)
which was before now domiciled within the Economic and Financial Crime
Commission (EFCC) as an autonomous unit and operating in the African
Region.

"The Act creates NFIU to be domiciled in the Central Bank but to work
autonomously and independently. The Act is intended to allow this
agency to collate and disseminate financial intelligence to security
agencies, intelligent agencies and other agencies which are entitled
to receive it.

"And what they collate is for instance transfers of money where money
comes from, where it goes and other suspicious transactions including
transaction relating to terrorism financing.

"What the law also does is to amend the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission Act, the Money Laundering Prohibition Act and the Terrorism
Prevention Act so that all these functions of financial intelligence
which were performed by each of these agencies or which allowed the
provision of money for illegal purposes or laundering would now be
handled by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit independently.

"And when they collate it they make it available to enforcement and
enforcing institutions and that is the essence of the Act and it is
available for every person, it has now become law,'' he said.

He said that the NFIU sought to comply with international standards on
combating money laundering and financing of terrorism and
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Enang emphasized that with the signing of the new Act, the NFIU would
now be excised from the EFCC.