A group photograph of all participants at the Workshop
Since the 9/11 incident of 2001 at the World Trade Center where over three thousand people in the United States of America lost their lives to terrorism related activities perpetrated by the dreaded Al-Qaida group, governments around the world has been forced to pay more attention to the activities of insurgent groups.
Not long thereafter, the United Kingdom got its own share of terrorism when a terror group on the
7th of July, 2005 struck in the heart of London leaving in their trail over one hundred people dead.
Africa is not left out as Nigeria has been drawn in a long battle with the Boko Haram insurgent group for six years running. Since the advent of the group in 2009, Nigeria has lost over 15,000 people with millions of her citizens internally displaced.

Al Qaeda, Al Shabaab, Boko Haram, Hamas, Palestine Liberation Front, The Taliban And ISIS Are Some Of The Terrorist Groups Tormenting The World Today.

Their Operations Are Well Orchestrated Signifying A Very Complex But Well Organised Organisation With Hierarchies Of Operators In Charge, Begging The Question Of Who The People Behind These Terrorist Groups Are.

It Is In The Light Of This That Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering In West Africa (GIABA) Has Come Together To Sensitise The Civil Society Organisations On Their Role In The Fight Against Money Laundering And Terrorist Financing.

Understanding GIABA

GIABA was established by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Authority of Heads of State and Government in the year 2000.
The creation of GIABA is a major response and contribution of ECOWAS in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
GIABA is a specialised institution of ECOWAS that is responsible for strengthening the capacity of member states towards the prevention and control of money laundering and terrorist financing in the region.
The war against Terrorist Financing and Money Laundering (ML/TF)
GIABA organises workshops in different countries to sensitise the public on their role in the fight against Terrorist Financing and Money Laundering.
It was the turn of Nigeria to host the workshop titled Sensitising CivilSociety Organisations (CSOs) on AML /CFT Requirements.
The workshop, the third of its kind is a follow up of similar workshops for Civil Society Organisations previously held in Dakar, Senegal, and Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire in 2012 and 2014 respectively.
In the welcome address delivered by the Director, Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and GIABA National Correspondent, Francis Usani, he revealed the importance of CSOs to the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
“Let me quickly state that the influence of the CSOs in the anti-corruption battle cannot be overlooked. The fight against money laundering and terrorist financing has received prominence on the agenda of the international community since the mid 1900s, which resulted in the adoption of several regional and international conventions,” he said.
Usani further disclosed that CSOs are regarded by many of these conventions as an inevitable tool in this battle. CSOs which include the human right organisations, social groups, non-government organisations and professional bodies, are the third group of stakeholders in the society apart from public and private societies. Your participation in this battle is therefore very crucial and for GIABA to partner with you, it gives credence to your importance.
“For us to effectively achieve our objectives, there must be a participatory approach, which should directly involve Civil Society Organisations in the area of formulation and monitoring the implementation of anti-corruption strategies and policies, which should also apply to the fight against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.
“It is a known fact that in Nigeria and the West African Sub-Region, Civil Society Organisations have forced governments to achieve accountability, transparency and participatory governance as well as rule of law and quality service delivery. Also governments with success stories in the fight against corruption have explored the role of Civil Society Organisation, especially in the area of raising awareness, policy formulation/feedback, implementation and monitoring.” Usani concluded.
Declaring the workshop open, Mr. Adama Coulibaly, Director General of GIABA reiterated the need for all ECOWAS member states to unite in the fight against terrorism and money laundering.
“Every day, ECOWAS region is facing a real security challenge mainly linked to the upsurge in extremism, terrorism and all forms of illegal trafficking ranging from weapons to drug trafficking.
“The fight against money laundering and terrorist financing should be analysed within the framework of the security of States; it is a collective struggle that calls for individual and community involvement in an all inclusive manner,” he said.
Speaking further, Coulibaly disclosed that the ambition of GIABA is to be at the forefront of a regional coalition against money laundering and terrorist financing by fostering and maintaining a culture of compliance with AML/CFT standards. These also include strengthening regional and international cooperation and enhancing its reputation as an associate Financial Action Task Force (FATF) member.
Stating the need for all hands to be on deck in the fight against terrorism and money laundering, Coulibaly revealed further that at a time our region is grappling with the activities of terrorist groups which pose a greater risk to its stability, it is necessary to review and analyse anti-terrorist strategies, not only through their integrated, coherent and participatory features, but also through their resilience capacity, culture and promotion of citizenry values as well as democratic best practices.
He however decried the low conviction rates in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. According to him, “the number of convictions for money laundering and terrorists financing remains low in the region while freezing and confiscation of properties, incomes and assets from organised crime organsations remain a challenge that GIABA must incorporate in the 4th strategic plan (2016-2020) which is being finalised,” he disclosed.
In the keynote address titled ‘The International Dimension of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risks: Mobilising Total Societal Support’, Professor Osita Agbu, representing the Director General (DG) of National Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) Prof. Bola A. Akinterinwa stated the need for concerted efforts and collaboration among all stakeholders to combat the risks associated with money laundering and terrorist financing.
In his words, “the fight against money laundering and terrorists financing requires concerted efforts and collaboration among all stakeholders. The case for societal mobilisation becomes even more strident in the vulnerability of West Africa states to money laundering and terrorists financing due to the geography of the region, porous borders and existence of weak institutions and fragile states,” Agbu concluded.
Also at the workshop, Dr. ‘Buno Nduka, Director, Programs and Projects GIABA took participants through an extensive lecture on the process of money laundering. He defined money laundering as a process or acts of concealing or disguising the identity of illegally obtained proceeds so that they appear to have originated from legitimate sources. He disclosed that the process of money laundering consists of three steps; Introduction of proceeds of crime in the financial system (placement), Transactions to convert or transfer the funds to other locations or financial system (layering), and reintegrating the funds into the legitimate economy as clean money and investing it in various assets or business ventures.
In his conclusion, Nduka stressed that for the ongoing onslaught against terrorism financing and money laundering to be successful, there is need for total societal mobilization.
Ref: http://dailytimes.com.ng/money-laundering-terrorist-financing-giaba-rescue/