Terror Financing: EFCC Beams Searchlight On NPOs

It will no longer be business as usual for Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) operating in the Northeast, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, said yesterday.

Bawa, who said the activities of some of the organisations have become worrisome, insisted that the anti-graft agency, henceforth, beam its searchlight on them.

He said regulating the NPOs, especially those operating in areas with Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) presence, became necessary to check terrorist financing.

The EFCC boss said the measure was in tune with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regulations.

FATF standard requires countries to identify assets and understand the money laundering/terrorist financing risks.

Speaking in Abuja at the opening of the Technical Working Group of the National Risk assessment for the NPO Sector in Nigeria, Bawa said, “The Non-Profit sector is a unique sector that provides innumerable services to humanity across the world.

“They are globally recognised for their humanitarian services, support and hope to the weak and vulnerable in a variety of ways but most importantly, in complimenting government’s developmental efforts towards the provision of essential services to the vulnerable.

“In Nigeria, especially in the Northeast, NPOs have significantly complimented government’s effort in rebuilding, reconstruction and provision of humanitarian support to the internally displaced persons and other citizens even in the remote locations of the deep field.

“Unfortunately, the sector has been susceptible to the risk of terrorist financing. In particular, the vulnerability of the sector has been a global concern as it has been used to raise, move funds and provide logistical support to terrorist organisations.

“Thus, in Nigeria, government’s efforts in expanding the relatively free civic space have only resulted in the proliferation of NPOs especially in the Northeast where the country is most challenged with colossal humanitarian crisis created by the Boko Haram insurgency.

“The continued and increasing exposure of their activities therefore coupled with the absence of a unified comprehensive regulatory and supervisory framework for the sector in Nigeria remains a source of concern for the authorities.”