Buhari splits NFIU from EFCC

President Muhammadu Buhari has assented to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) Bill, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate) Senator Ita Enang told State House reporters yesterday.

He said NFIU is the Nigerian arm of the global Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs). He said the NFIU which was domiciled in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will now be in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

He said the unit has the responsibility to receive, request, analyse, and disseminate financial intelligence to relevant agencies.

“The Act establishes the NFIU as a central body in Nigeria responsible for the receiving, requesting, analysing and disseminating financial intelligence to agencies and other relevant authorities to enable the institutions act on same. The agency is an independent and operationally autonomous institution domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria,” he said.

Recall that the NFIU bill was passed in March this year by the National Assembly to facilitate the country’s readmission into the EGMONT Group rather than being expelled.

After suspending Nigeria, the Egmont Group had demanded that the NFIU be pulled out of the EFCC, among other requirements.

Egmont Group is a network of national financial intelligence units and the highest intergovernmental association of intelligence agencies in the world, with 154 member countries.

Nigeria was suspended last year from the group following the nonestablishment of the NFIU as an autonomous body.