Governors under the aegis of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, yesterday asked President Muhammadu Buhari to call the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to order.
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This came as two prominent lawyers, Olisa Agbakoka, SAN and Monday Ubani expressed divergent views over the issue.
According to Agbakoba, SAN, a former President of Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, “The role of NFIU is very wide but I do not think that part of that role is to monitor the disbursement of funds meant for local governments. The governor is absolutely right in asking the president to caution NFIU with regards to how funds meant for local government should be disbursed.”
On his part, Ubani, a former 2nd Vice-President, NBA, said “The governors are not right in their observations because they have been stealing the money that belongs to local governments and Nigerians have kept quiet. I want Nigerians and the National Assembly to support the NFIU in this directive to save Nigeria. Nigerians are leaving the country due to mismanagement of funds and now that something is being done about it, some people are crying foul. The President should warn the governors. The Governors have no moral right to ask the President to caution the NFIU. What the NFIU is doing is commendable and must be encouraged.”
However, the governors argued that the NFIU must not dabble into a matter that was beyond its mandate.
The Chairman of NGF and governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar, in a statement yesterday accused the NFIU of “stoking mischief and also deliberately seeking to cause disaffection, chaos and overheat the polity.”
According to NGF, Local Government Councils were a creation of the constitution and not financial institutions, insisting that as governors, they were not Reporting entities and therefore not under the NFIU in the manner contemplated by the NFIU so-called guidelines.
It will be recalled that NFIU had a penultimate week, issued a guideline which prevents state governments from making withdrawals from local governments’ funds.
The NGF’s position was contained in a statement by the Head, Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazaque Barkindo.
The statement reads in part “Nigeria’s 36 governors have approached the President of the Federal Republic and Commander-In-chief of the Armed Forces, President Muhammadu Buhari on the decision by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to dabble into a matter that is beyond its mandate.
“The Chairman of the NGF and Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar, signed off a letter in which governors expressed “dismay and angst at this brazen attempt by the NFIU to ridicule our collective integrity and show total disregard for the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) as amended.
“The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, which was excised from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, set June 1, 2019, as the takeoff date of the new order, making it compulsory for all LGA allocations to go straight to their respective bank accounts. The decision is contained in a guideline released by the NFIU after a lengthy meeting with officials of commercial banks in Abuja.
“But in a swift reaction, the NGF Letter was titled Re: NFIU Enforcement and Guidelines to Reduce Crime Vulnerabilities Created by Cash Withdrawal from Local Government Funds Throughout Nigeria Effective June 1st, 2019.”
“The letter is dated May 15th, 2019.
“ Extracting copiously from the constitution, governors drew the attention of the President to section (6) (a) and (b) which confers on the States and National Assemblies the powers to make provisions for statutory allocation of Public revenue to the Local Councils in the Federation and within the states respectively.
“Similarly, the Governors added, Section 162 (6) expressly provides for the creation of the States Joint Local Government Account (SJLGA) into which shall be paid all allocations to the LGAs of the State from the Federation Account and from the government of the state.
“The NGF Chairman emphasises that nothing in the NFIU Act 2018 gives the body the powers that it seeks to exercise in the guidelines that it released and is, therefore, acting in excess of its powers and by so doing, Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar added, NFIU exhibits complete disregard of the constitution of Nigeria.
“The NGF Chairman further accused the NFIU of “stoking mischief and also deliberately seeking to cause disaffection, chaos and overheat the polity.”
“The NGF says that Local Government Councils are a creation of the constitution and are not financial institutions. They are, governors also said, not Reporting entities and are therefore not under the NFIU in the manner contemplated by the NFIU so-called guidelines.
“In principle, the NFIU should concentrate on its core mandate of Anti-money laundering AML activities and Combatting financing Terrorism CTF as prescribed in the Act establishing it and should desist from encroaching on or even breaching constitutional provisions.
“The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) is the Nigerian arm of the global financial intelligence Units (FIUs) once domiciled within the EFCC but now for the purpose of institutional location domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“This means the NFIU is only mandated to trace or track laundered money that finds its way into terrorism financing and report such to the nation’s security agencies. The NFIU should seek to comply with those standards on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism and its proliferation as stipulated and not dabble into matters that are both constitutional and beyond NFIU purview.”
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