THE Federal Government has revealed how a total of14,423 Boko Haram members had surrendered, disclosing that the terminal date for the sect was September 15, 2021.
Executive Director, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Mr Hamman Tukur, has also revealed that the raging banditry and kidnapping for ransom would come to a terminal end between March and April 2022.
Tukur spoke on Tuesday at a 3-day capacity building workshop on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism organised by the Ministry of Interior in collaboration with NFIU for the paramilitary agencies under the Ministry.
He noted that the anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering fight is an inter-agency responsibility, adding that all the 45 agencies ranging from Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Commission (ICPC), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) among others, have a role to play.
He said: “When we did the analysis in 2019, members of Boko Haram stood at 15,000 people and 4,500 of them were very active during the period. But as of yesterday, 14,423 Boko Haram have surrendered. Those of us from that area know that North-East is now safer than the North-Central.
“Why you cannot notice it is that banditry is very active and kidnapping is also very active, herdsmen activity is also very active.
“From our analysis in January 2021, we gave the terminal date of Boko Haram as 15th of September, 2021, and by 15th of September, not only did Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau commit suicide, about seven other leaders committed suicide,” he said.
He added that the fight against terrorism financing and money laundering was not only for NFIU but for service-wide and that the success recorded was for the Federal Government.
He said: “Of all the security threats, from Boko Haram, IPOB, among others, it is only kidnapping and banditry that is very active and their terminal date for them in our record is March-April 2022. It is not possible to stop them before that time because of the nature of the fight against terrorism.”
Minister of Interior, Ọgbẹni Rauf Arẹgbẹsọla, while declaring the workshop open, noted that as terrorism, banditry and other serious cross border crimes continue to proliferate, law enforcement agencies and regulators must work together to prevent, identify, punish and deter financial crimes.
He said over the past decade, Nigeria has increasingly been confronted with the violent and disruptive activities of terrorists as a result, laws and policies have been targeted not only to decimate the terrorists but to target their sources of funding.
“We are all too aware that risks posed by money laundering on the financial system are constantly evolving.
“It is, therefore, necessary to continue to take appropriate measures to enhance the capacities of our law enforcement agencies for high profile investigation and diligent prosecution, in order to meet global standards for protecting the integrity of our financial system and prevent it from being used as a safe haven for the movement of illicit funds,” he said.
Arẹgbẹsọla said it was in the light of this, that the ministry and its agencies, in conjunction with the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, is conducting this workshop, as part of a series of measures to build capacity and effective communication networks among policy, regulatory and law enforcement agencies, in order to strengthen the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism regime in the country.
He stressed that the Federal Government would continue to seek innovative ways to deprive criminals of the proceeds of their illegal activity and plough back into projects and programmes that would benefit the entire population.
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