The attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, Mr Lateef Fagbemi said the federal government had secured over 500 convictions and seized N45 billion looted funds in two years.
He disclosed this yesterday at the 40th Technical Commission/Plenary Meeting of the Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) held in Abuja.
The minister also said some individuals and entities linked to terrorist activities had been identified, designated and funds traced to them also confiscated.
“In 2022, we increased the budgets for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) by almost 95 per cent.
“The investment has seen increased number of investigations, prosecutions and convictions consistently since 2021 with 5,118 investigations, 1,509 prosecutions and almost 500 convictions secured resulting in over 45 billion naira of illicit proceeds seized.
“We have also made progress in tackling the financing of terrorism.
“The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has become a global model and achieved the outcomes envisaged by the passage of its enabling legislation in 2018 which established it as an independent, autonomous unit.
“The Unit has significantly expanded the scope of financial intelligence it has access to and provides to other competent authorities,” he said.
The minister averred that Nigeria’s ability to tackle the most complex criminal activity, money laundering and violent terrorist attacks, “is predicated on the capabilities of our supervisory, law enforcement and prosecutorial authorities, and the outcomes that we are achieving point to the need for greater investment in human and technical resources and improved training and capacity development.
Fagbemi also said the federal government had fine-tuned efforts to try suspected terrorists.
“Efforts are on to resume the trial of those categories of people. And I think, in the next two weeks, it will be a different story. We are conscious of that issue.
“Facilities are being put in place. Apart from the regular physical mode of trial, we are working on ways to ensure that virtual trial can also be conducted,” he added.
GIABA is a specialised institution of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, responsible for facilitating the adoption and implementation of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT) strategies in West Africa.
