By The New Diplomat Political Desk
The International Police Organisation (Interpol) has raised an alarm over thousands of illicit dollars being laundered out of Nigeria every hour.
The security agency investigation showed that several individuals in Nigeria are laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars to other African countries and around the world on an hourly basis.
The Interpol Vice President for Africa, Garba Umar, made this damning revelation during his address at a four-day training workshop for Nigerian law enforcement agencies at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Academy, Abuja.
According to Umar, money laundering across Africa and the entire world has assumed a monstrous dimension and has been emboldened by some people in government.
To tackle the menace, Umar disclosed that Interpol has designed Silver Notices.
According to him, the Silver Notices is an initiative that alerts the Interpol of such criminal activities across the world.
He stressed that hard times awaited money launderers as the Silver Notices would make illicit funds more difficult to launder in any part of the world.
He said: “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.”
Speaking on the theme of the Workshop: Strengthening Capacity and Coordination against Financial Crimes, Umar pointed out that financial crimes had become transnational and law enforcement agencies needed regular training for their workforce to be ahead of fraudsters
He urged participants at the workshop to make it a duty to discuss and learn about transnational crimes affecting their regions, identify possible solutions through a review of policing capabilities to support the country, and facilitate direct and in-person interaction amongst law enforcement networks across the country.
“In essence, this Workshop will allow us 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, n the global community,” he said.
In his address, Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, who was represented by the Director, of Fraud Risk Assessment and Control, FRAC, of the EFCC, Francis Usani, also harped on the need for enhanced collaboration in tackling financial crimes.
He particularly stressed that the complex nature of corruption across the world could only be broken by the might of collaborative actions by every stakeholder.
Usani stated: “The daunting nature of the fight against corruption in Nigeria and the world at large deserves serious collaboration among organizations saddled with the responsibility of fighting corruption.
“Our records of convictions and recoveries stand us out, but we will not rest on our oars, we are committed to doing more and in this commitment, the EFCC is re-strategising its operations with a focus on prevention knowing that it is easier and cheaper to prevent corruption from happening than investigating and prosecuting corruption.”
