Our reporter/ Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being laundered out of Nigeria to other African countries and across the world every hour, the International Police Organisation (INTERPOL) said on Monday.
The organisation further revealed that 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.
The INTERPOL Vice President for Africa, Garba Baba Umar made the disclosure at EFCC Academy, Abuja while declaring open a four-day workshop for Nigerian law enforcement agencies.
Umar, however, revealed that INTERPOL has launched what he described as “Silver Notices Against Money Laundering”, 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.
“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,” he said.
Also speaking 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 organizations saddled with the responsibility of fighting corruption”, he said.
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