Olusola Bello
Federal Government said it is willing to become a member of the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog.
Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, disclosed this at the Extraordinary Ministerial Committee Meeting of the Intergovernmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA).
Umar Gwandu, spokesman for the office of the AGF in a statement weekend, said, this is in line with the resolve of the government to address the challenges of money laundering and terrorism financing.
“The FATF monitors 39 member countries to ensure full and effective implementation of FATF Standards, thereby holding nations that do not comply accountable,” it said.
According to Malami, Nigeria’s Financial Intelligent Unit has issued an executive alert to all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) for the implementation of the action plan on Nigeria’s follow-up process.
He thanked FATF, GIABA, and member states for reviewing and adopting the just-concluded second Mutual Evaluation Report (MER) of Nigeria.
The minister stated that to achieve the purpose of the subsequent high rating of the technical compliance and effective for the country on follow-up review, MDAs have been directed to constitute an internal technical committee to review the report and work out modalities for implementation.
He assured the member states that Nigeria has a high-level commitment to addressing money laundering and terrorism financing in order to ensure a stable and peaceful nation for the people.
Malami added that where the implementation process and follow-up evaluation on the MER was concluded, Nigeria further requested the support of GIABA to commence the application for membership into FATF.
