Follow Us on Google
From: FRED ITUA, Abuja
One week after a bill to make the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) an autonomous unit was read for the first time, the Senate, on Thursday, passed it into law.
With the passage of the bill and when signed into law, NFlU will cease to be a department of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Instead, it will be an independent body which will not be under the control of any agency.
This is also the fastest bill passed by the 8th Senate since it was inaugurated over two years ago.
The bill was also passed, despite a strong opposition from the EFCC, which had pleaded that it should not be made autonomous.
Curiously however, the Senate committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, headed by Chukwuka Utazi, held a secret public hearing on Wednesday, where the EFCC made its position known.
