The International Police Organisation (INTERPOL), has stated that hundreds of thousands of dollars are being flown out of Nigeria to other African countries and around the world on a hourly basis.
This was stated by Garba Baba Umar, the INTERPOL Vice President for Africa, who spoke at the EFCC Academy, Abuja when he declared a four-day workshop for Nigerian law enforcement agencies open.
It was noted that evidence had 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.
The organisation also noted that money laundering across Africa and the entire world had taken a disturbing shape.
Umar called for concerted efforts of every security agencies in Nigeria and other countries to address the issue.
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.
“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.
At the event, 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 organisations saddled with the responsibility of fighting corruption”, he said.
Corruption has been identified as the major stumbling block to Nigeria’s development with stakeholders calling for more stringent resolve to fight against corruption.
Source: saharareporters