The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) has called for the quick passage of the bill to establish the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.
This came on the heel of the statement by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, who blamed the stealing of billions of naira from public coffers on the inefficiency of government’s financial management agencies.
Tambuwal, who spoke in Abuja on Monday at a public hearing on a Bill for an Act to Establish the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Agency organized by the House Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, said that the proposed Nigerian Financial Intelligence Agency would fight the present dubious accounting procedures and help reduce the recklessness with which funds are being stolen.
Speaking on behalf of the Coalition, its Executive chairman, Comrade Debo Adeniran commended the bill and averred that the establishment of the NFIU will go a long way to check the excessive financial crimes in the country.
He said, “the bill that seeks to give autonomy to the NFIU is a good step in the right direction. It would be recalled that the NFIU came into existence primarily to check the excessive financial crimes being perpetrated in the country as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and other anti-graft agencies are most often overwhelmed thereby causing delay in the prosecution of many cases. Though the unit is currently domiciled with the EFCC, just like many of us have said, it is supposed to be an autonomous institution responsible for receiving, requesting, analyzing and disseminating such financial and other information to all law enforcement and security agencies and other relevant authorities. The agency will go a long way to curb money laundering and terrorism financing.”
According to him, “the National Assembly is beginning to wake up to its responsibilities, and this is one of the pro-masses bill that will see to it that our common patrimony is not repatriated through our borders and will also curb the pervasive corruption being perpetrated in the country.”
The anti-corruption crusader however advocated the quick passage of the bill for the agency to commence work in earnest.