NASS abandons bill seeking to transfer NFIU from EFCC to CBN

Three months after the National Assembly hurriedly passed a bill seeking to move the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to the Central Bank of Nigeria, indications have emerged that the Senators have lost interest in the bill.

Investigation shows that since the lawmakers hastily passed the bill on March 7, 2018 in a bid to meet a said ‘deadline’ set by the Egmont Group for Nigeria to secure financial autonomy or be ‘expelled’, they have not transmitted it to the President for his assent for it to become law.

The rush to pass the bill, according to findings, was according to some of the lawmakers, to make NFIU to be seen to be an autonomous institution before the Egmont Group’s General Assembly meeting on March 11, 2018.

Surprisingly, against the claim by the lawmakers and some civil society groups that Nigeria would be axed from the group at the March 11 2018 meeting if NFIU was not transferred from the EFCC to the CBN, the Egmont group ended their meeting without any mention of Nigeria’s suspension.

Three months after the global financial intelligence body has also not made any threat either to recall Nigeria from its current suspension or expel it all together, thereby putting to question the undue anxiety expressed by lawmakers and CSOs.

Meanwhile, the Presidency has confirmed it has not received the bill.

The confirmation was made by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang.

“To be best of my knowledge that bill has not been transmitted to the President since it was passed some months ago. I am not aware it has reached the Presidency as we speak,” Mr. Enang said.

But a document obtained exclusively last night, showed that the bill had been lying at the Legal Department of the National Assembly where it was reportedly referred to for ‘clean-up to enable the Clerk to transmit same to the President for his assent’ since March 7.

We gathered that the legal department of the NASS had since recommended that two sections of the bill dealing with fines and penalties be clearly stated in sections 25 and 27 of the bill for the purpose of clarity.

But further finding indicates that the Presidency might not be in a comfortable position to sign the bill into law because appending his signature to the bill could hasten the expulsion of Nigeria from the Financial Intelligence community.

It was learnt that legal experts familiar with Egmont’s mode of operation had drawn the attention of Mr. President to the fact that the group did not ask Nigeria to move NFIU from EFCC to any other agency in the country but to ‘simply ensure that the unit is autonomous in terms of legal structure and funding’.