The recent directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to banks, payment service banks, and other financial institutions to freeze any accounts linked to terrorist financiers is quite apt, especially amid growing public apprehension about the escalating pace of insecurity nationwide. The country has endured years of trauma and insecurity, which has rendered many persons homeless and quite a good number dead. This is accompanied by the incidence of internally displaced persons (IDP) camps becoming commonplace in the country.

According to the CBN, in its circular signed by Olubunmi Ayodele-Oni, Director of the Compliance Department, the directive freezing of accounts linked to terrorism financiers followed sanctions designations by the Nigeria Sanctions Committee and the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control under Executive Order 13224, as amended.

In the circular in which six individuals, Muktar Muhammad Adamu, Babangida Muhammed Adamu Hammajam, Abdullahi Umar Usman, Ibrahim Abubakar, Adamu Chiroma and Yakubu Ogirima Ibrahim were named, the sanctions were said to apply also to the four Nigeria-based money service businesses and Bureau De Change (BDCs) owned or controlled by the designated persons, namely Generation Currency Bureau de Change Limited, Manhattan Bureau de Change Limited, Nine to Nine Exchange Bureau de Change Limited and Abbal Bako & Sons Bureau de Change Limited.

The thoroughness of the CBN directive deserves commendation from all stakeholders in the Nigerian economy, as financial institutions are required to immediately screen existing customers, accounts, beneficial owners, and all incoming and outgoing transactions against the updated sanctions lists, including aliases and other identifiers. This is in addition to the requirement for them to freeze, without prior notice, all funds, assets and economic resources belonging to, owned, held or controlled directly or indirectly by the designated persons and entities, so long as the sanctioned entities own up to 50 per cent or more, individually or collectively, of the assets in question. Given that financial institutions are required to file suspicious transaction reports immediately with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) in case of any confirmed or attempted matches, the required bite for effective compliance would have been provided.

It can be recalled that the NFIU is the Nigerian arm of the global Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), in compliance with international standards for combating money laundering, the financing of terrorism, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Notably, its formation is one of the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), a product of the 1989 G-7 Summit saddled with the responsibility of examining money laundering techniques and trends as well as reviewing the action which had already been taken at a national or international level in addition to setting out the measures that still needed to be taken to combat money laundering.

Gladly, it is also of note that the NFIU has been admitted into the Egmont Group, the global body responsible for setting standards on best practices for FIUs. It can, however, be noted that, globally, many of these illicit flows, which invariably do not pass through formal financial systems, have become more destabilising to the world economy, with increased instances of money laundering and terrorist financing.

The fallout from this CBN directive can be quite beneficial and value-adding in the fight against insecurity in Nigeria. It has taken the fight to the global level, with the United States and other members of the G-7 countries fully brought in, in the quest to name and shame domestic financiers of terrorism in Nigeria. The key thing now is for the country to follow through in this declared fight against terrorism.

It is quite obvious that funds have been flowing to these “agents of darkness: who have made the country very unsafe for one to sleep with two eyes closed or travel across the country in a state of relaxation and peace. The joy that has greeted the recent release of abducted teachers and students from Oriire local government in Ogbomosho, Oyo State, is quite indicative of the deep desire of most Nigerians to put this insecurity crisis behind them. Irrespective of what might be the driving force behind the growing insecurity in the country, whether religious, ideology or mere criminality, the time to nip this menace in the bud is now.

The combined effort of the CBN, the deposit money banks, the BDCs, and the NFIU will invariably add value, provided that adequate information is shared among these agencies and institutions, and that sanctions are imposed whenever even an iota of connivance with criminals is detected and compromisers are exposed. The surge in global terrorism and the flow of illicit finance across many jurisdictions have been widely acknowledged on the African continent, as evidenced by the work of the African Union Commission.

Finally, given that the CBN in its circular has ordered enhanced monitoring for terrorism financing indicators, including structuring and rapid movement of funds, the use of money service businesses and BDCs, informal transfer channels and transactions involving high-risk jurisdictions, it is hoped that an adequate follow-up mechanism will detect any breaches in this regard as quickly as possible. The need to conduct a look-back review of past or attempted transactions and business relationships linked to the designated parties, as required by the CBN, would also be a value addition. Nigerians need a quick reprieve from this menace of insecurity, and all hands should be on deck to achieve this objective.