The federal government Thursday said the National Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has uncovered 96 financiers of terrorism in Nigeria. It also said from an analysis of tax evasion and tax avoidance linked to corruption, the agency identified N3,909,707,678,112.43 in VAT and N3,737,918,335,785.82 in Withholding Tax due to the government.
Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed announced this in Abuja while briefing journalists on the corruption fight of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
He said: “ For its part, the analysis by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), in 2020-2021, revealed 96 financiers of terrorism in Nigeria, 424 associates/supporters of the financiers, involvement of about 123 companies and 33 bureaux de change, in addition to identifying 26 suspected bandits/kidnappers and 7 co-conspirators. The analysis has resulted in the arrest of 45 suspects who will soon face prosecution and seizure of assets. Also, from its analysis of tax
evasion and tax avoidance linked to corruption, NFIU has identified
N3,909,707,678,112.43 in VAT and N3,737,918,335,785.82 in Withholding Tax due to the government. NFIU has also sent 1,165 intelligence reports on cases of corruption, money laundering and other serious offences to 27 domestic agencies for investigation, prosecution and asset recovery.
“On terrorism financing, NFIU had intelligence exchanges on Boko Haram, ISWAP, banditry, kidnapping and others with 19 countries. During the same period, 2020-2021, the organization returned fraudulently-obtained funds totalling US$103, 722,102.83,3,000 Pound Sterling; 7,695 Singapore Dollar and 1,091 Euros to 11 countries of victims who came into the country.”
He said: “The ICPC has played a pivotal role in bringing about structural changes in the operations of the government, especially regarding improvements in MDAs budget utilization, better value for money, improved project completion, service delivery and higher level of anti-corruption awareness. Recall, gentlemen, that the c ommission established the Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Initiative in 2019 to ensure value for money for the Nigerian people and full execution of projects. Between 2019 and 2021, ICPC traced 2,000 projects worth over N300 billion. During the same period, 326 contractors of abandoned projects across the six geo-political zones were forced by the commission to return to site to complete projects worth N32.183 billion. Also, the ICPC’s Assets Tracing, Recovery and Management (ATRM) project led to the recovery of cash totalling N34.346billion and US$1.62 million between 2019 and 2021. Also, the Commission’s System Study and Review of personnel and capital votes of MDAs resulted in savings of N261 billion to the government between 2019 and 2021. ICPC has also secured 66 convictions from the 243 cases it filed in court during the same three-year period.”
While further highlighting activities of other anti-corruption agencies, the minister said: “In 2021 alone, the EFCC secured a total of 2,220 convictions. That represents a 127 percent increase in the number of convictions (976) recorded in 2020, and a far cry from the 195 convictions secured in 2016, the 189 in 2017, the 312 convictions in 2018, and the 1,280 recorded in 2019. The 2021 figure of 2,220 convictions represents a 98.49 per cent success rate, with only 34 cases (representing 1.51 per cent) discharged.
“On Monetary recoveries, in 2021 alone, the EFCC recovered a total
monetary amount of N152,088,698,751.64; 1,182,519.75 Pounds Sterling, 50 Emirati Dirham, 1,723,310 Saudi Riyal, 1,900 South African Rand; US$386,220,202.85; 156,246.76 Euros; 1,400 Canadian Dollars; 5.36957319 Bitcoin and 0.09012 Ethereum. The last two are digital currencies.”
