KEY POINTS

• In two years, police brought about 100 terror financiers to justice in Nigeria.
• The effort is to dismantle Boko Haram and ISWAP financial networks.
• Stakeholder collaboration is necessary for fighting financial crimes.

Nigeria has successfully prosecuted more than 100 individuals financing terrorism in the past two years that saw President Bola Tinubu come to power, he announced.

This, which is part of the country’s broader anti-terrorism strategy, is part of its efforts to break the financial networks that sustain groups like Boko Haram and ISWAP.

According to Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume, Tinubu stressed that yet another way of curbing terrorism, among others, is to stop funding the terrorists.

The National Anti-Money Laundering, Combating Terrorism Financing, and Counter-Proliferation Financing Compliance Summit in Abuja addressed this.

Reacting, Akume also said that by taking away the means to destabilize the nation and carry out their terrorist acts, ‘groups like Boko Haram and ISWAP will not have the resources and funds to continue causing mayhem’.

He noted the collaboration of the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Attorney-General’s office which convicted and prosecuted over 100 financiers of terrorism.

On financial crimes: collective action

Furthermore, a couple of successes pointed out included the continuous collaboration of agencies at the summit aimed at curbing financial crimes.

“The fight against financial crime is a collaborative effort between political leaders, financial institutions, law enforcement, and international partners,” she said. ‘This fight can’t be won alone by anyone,’”

Nigeria has also taken both proactive and reactive measures, additional monitoring of financial transactions, international partnership to enhance capability to disrupt criminal networks.