FG’s Renewed War On Terrorism Financing Puts CBN, Others Under Scrutiny 

The current clampdown on alleged financiers or those with links with terrorism  may have put the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other agencies, particularly at the nation’s borders under scrutiny, with some stakeholders accusing the regulatory bank of supervisory laxity.

It has been alleged that huge amount of money have left or being transferred out of this country through illicit means.

Specifically, it was reported on Monday that 19 Bureax De Change owned by persons with “direct connection with Boko Haram” were uncovered, while over N300 billion was found to have been pumped into the funding of terrorism in the country.

Despite being the nation that has suffered the heaviest casualties through Boko Haram atrocities for many years, with over 30,000  people killed and millions of others displaced, Nigeria has shown weakness in dealing decisively with the terrorists and blocking their sources of funding until recently.

“It is either CBN is becoming unnecessarily occupied with mundane issues or its supervisory or monitoring alertness are becoming weak and ineffective. In recent times, huge cash was alleged to have been moved physically or electronically either through our banks or through the air and land, all at the expense of the much touted cashless policy.

“What happens to monthly, quarterly, half yearly and yearly rendition of reports by banks, how about the on/off site supervision exercises. I think if we are all alive to our responsibilities either as individuals or organizations, some of the ugly happenings now would have been minimized,” says a financial analyst who pleaded for anonymity.

Another analyst equally blamed the security and government agencies like Customs and Excise, Immigration, Standards Organisation (SON), National Drug Law Enfircement Agency (NDLEA), National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, (NAFDACat, among others at the borders and airports for alleged conspiracy.

This is because, according to him, the current aggressive drive for revenue by the federal government may have turned some of these agencies, particularly, those whose functions were primarily regulatory into revenue generating ones with their pecuniary interests, ocassioned by the endemic corruption.

The logic is that, in their quest to impress their paymasters so as to remain in their positions for fairly long time, surpluses are usually declared at the expense of regulatory abd supervisory roles.

In deed, our investigations showed that the Bureau De Change operators need close supervision as some of them are alleged complicit in the ongoing financial malpractices.

This platform reported late last year the general clampdown on some BDC operators who were arrested by the combined efforts of CBN and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) and who were being investigated. The exercise could not be done thoroughly, even though some alleged culprits were sanctioned due to the outbreak of the covid-19 and the attendant lockdowns.

However, this time around, those arrested are reportedly being kept in military and Department of State Services facilities in Abuja and other places.

The series of arrests were allegedly made in Kano, Abuja. Lagos, Sokoto, Adamawa, Kaduna and Zamfara, according to Daily Trust report.

Some of them were traders at the foreign exchange open market in Wapa, Fagge Local Government of Kano state.

In deed, it took a court in the United Arab Emirates in 2020 to jail six Nigerians for funding the terror group.

In November 2020, there were reports of how six Nigerians were facing prison terms of 10 years to life after a federal appeal court in the United Arab Emirates upheld their convictions for funding the terrorist group, Boko Haram.

The accused were initially tried and convicted in 2019 following their arrest in 2017.

The court in Abu Dhabi therefore sentenced Surajo Abubakar Muhammad and Saleh Yusuf Adamu to life imprisonment. Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, AbdurRahman Ado Musa, Bashir Ali Yusuf and Muhammad Ibrahim Isa were each given a ten-year sentence.

The court judgement said between 2015 and 2016, the accused transferred $782,000 from Dubai to Nigeria to benefit Boko Haram.

Following the successful trial of the six persons in the UAE, which was a smack on the face for the Nigerian government, an embarrassed presidency felt it had to do something to save its face, with the international community already doubting its commitment to the fight against terrorism and insurgency in the country.

In March 2021, Senior Special Assistant to The President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the Nigerian Government had arrested some Bureau De Change operators who were facilitating the transfer of money to Boko Haram terrorists.

He had said some Nigerians transferring money to the sect from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were working with the BDC operators.

“Bureax de change are facilitating money to terrorists. We have already worked with the UAE. Convictions have been achieved of Nigerians who are transferring money to Boko Haram terrorists and this also happens domestically. And I tell you that by the time we finish this investigation, the shocking details will surprise many Nigerians,” Shehu had said.

In February 2018, a Nigerian court in Kainji, Niger State freed 475 Boko Haram suspects, with those released for lack of evidence far outweighing those convicted of being members of the Islamist militant group.

According to the Justice Ministry, some were suffering from mental illnesses but it was not clear whether the conditions existed before their arrests.

Also, at a mass trial, held in October 2017, more than 400 suspects were released, with just 45 jailed for their roles in the Boko Haram insurgency.

The AGF and Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami had told the BBC that the released suspects would be rehabilitated before being allowed to return to their families.

Just last weekend, governors of the states battling with Boko Haram terrorism in the North-East asked the Nigerian Government to issue a special fiat, different from the general one issued earlier, to enable them to speedily prosecute suspects arrested for terrorism.

In separate interviews with Sunday PUNCH, the governors of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states who spoke through their Commissioners of Justice and Attorneys General, noted that the fiat issued by Malami, which allowed states to prosecute federal offences, was not enough to prosecute suspected terrorists.

For instance, Commissioner for Justice in Borno State, Mr Kaka Shehu Lawan, confirmed receiving from the AGF the “general fiat” to prosecute federal offenders but noted that they needed “specific” fiat for cases related to Boko Haram.

Shehu, who spoke on behalf of Governor Babagana Zulum, said, “Yes I am in receipt of the general fiat by the Attorney General of the Federation to prosecute all offenders who commit federal offences in any of the 36 states of the federation but he (Malami) didn’t give us a specific fiat to prosecute Boko Haram insurgents.

“What we want from the Attorney General of the Federation is for him to give us a specific fiat and collaboration to prosecute Boko Haram insurgents in the three states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states where the Boko Haram insurgents commit crime against the Nigerian federation.”