NASS’ll pass NFIU bill this week, says Saraki

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has said he is confident that the National Assembly will pass the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) bill this week.

The bill seeking to make NFIU autonomous was passed by the Senate in July 2017 but was delayed at the House of Representatives.

In a series of tweets on his Twitter handle, @bukolasaraki, yesterday, the senate president said he has met with Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, over the issue and that a conference committee meeting for the bill is scheduled for today and the reports would be laid in both chambers on Tuesday.

“Following my meeting (last) Thursday with speaker @YakubDogara, the chairman @NGRSenate committee on anti-corruption and @HouseNGR chairman on financial crimes, the conference committee meeting for the NFIU bill will hold tomorrow (today) and the report presented in both chambers on Tuesday,” the senate president tweeted.

“I am confident that we will pass the NFIU bill this week,” said Saraki.

Last July, TheCable reported that the Egmont Group suspended Nigeria because of “interference” of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the workings of the unit.

The group has 153 member countries, including the United States of America and the United Kingdom.

Ahead of its meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, between March 11 and March 16, Nigeria is expected to make NFIU independent, in order to avoid expulsion.

In the event of an expulsion, Nigeria will no longer benefit from financial intelligence shared by member countries, while the country’s ability to recover stolen funds abroad will also be hampered.

Nigeria will also be blacklisted in international finance and this could affect the use of credit and debit cards by Nigerians abroad.