Nigeria is still blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) despite enacting the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013, the Inter Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa, GIABA, said.
GIABA in a statement said Nigeria would remain blacklisted until it could be ascertained through an on-site visit that Nigeria has met substantially all items in its action plan.
GIABA said the Mutual Evaluation of Nigeria (MER) was adopted by GIABA on 07 May 2008, and the country was rated Partially Compliant (PC) or Non Compliant (NC) in 13 out of the 16 Core and Key Recommendations of the FATF.
“This along with a banking asset in excess of US$5 billion, Nigeria was subjected to the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) of the FATF. However the group said that With the support of the ICRG Regional Review Group (RRG) and GIABA, Nigeria developed an Action Plan to remedy the identified deficiencies and, in February 2010, Nigeria made a political commitment to address it’s deficiencies within one year.
“Nigeria’s efforts were reviewed in February 2011 and despite passing the Money Laundering and Terrorism Prevention legislation, Nigeria was placed on the FATF Public Statement after the pieces of legislation were analysed and found not to fully conform to international standards.
“Since then, Nigeria has made significant efforts and taken steps towards improving its AML/CFT regime, including criminalization of the full range of predicate offence for money laundering and the passage of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) ACT 2012; and most recently on 21 February, 2013 President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan assented to the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013.
“The enactment of the Anti-Terrorism Act marks a turning point in the implementation of a robust counter terrorism measures in the country, which is a major requirement for an effective AML/CFT system. However, FATF has not yet assessed the legislation, due to the very recent nature of its enactment.
“This means that Nigeria is still retained on the FATF Public Statement for some time until it is ascertained through an on-site visit that Nigeria has met substantially all items in its action plan,” the statement said.
