The International Police Organisation (INTERPOL) has revealed that Nigeria is losing hundreds of thousands of dollars to money laundering every hour.
The disclosure was made by Garba Baba Umar, INTERPOL Vice President for Africa, at a four-day workshop for Nigerian law enforcement agencies in Abuja.
According to Umar, the scourge of money laundering has taken a disturbing shape across Africa and the world, with criminal funds being laundered before reaching the pockets of criminals.
He called for concerted efforts from security agencies in Nigeria and other countries to address this issue.
To tackle money laundering, INTERPOL has launched the “Silver Notices Against Money Laundering” initiative, which aims to make illicit funds more difficult to launder globally. Umar warned that hard times await money launderers as a result of this initiative.
Umar said: “Evidence has shown that every hour, hundreds of thousands of dollars are flowing out of Nigeria to the region and across the world, laundered before it reaches the pockets of criminals to enjoy the profits of their crimes, while the hardworking and honest Nigerians pay the price of crime.
“With every successful laundering of criminal money, our country becomes more prone to crime. More drugs, more fraud, more corruption and more violence. Every time criminal money is successfully laundered, our financial institutions take an additional blow…”
The workshop, themed “Strengthening Capacity and Coordination against Financial Crimes,” highlighted the need for regular training and enhanced collaboration among law enforcement agencies to combat transnational financial crimes.
