CBN, EFCC meet to tackle economic crimes, may bar culprits from opening bank accounts in Nigeria

Officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and their counterparts in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) met on Thursday, March 7, 2019, with the aim of strengthening the country’s fight against economic crimes. The meeting, which took place at the Head Office of the CBN in Abuja, provided an opportunity for the two entities to share experiences and peculiar challenges in the fight against economic related crimes. 

CBN’s Director of Communications, Isaac Okorafor, said that the two agencies adopted strategies aimed at curtailing the unwholesome activities ofeconomic saboteurs which include smuggling of commodities like rice, textile materials,fertilizer, wheat and other items on the prohibition list for accessing foreign exchange through official window, as well as tracking illicit financial flows.

Other areas which the two agencies are collaborating include anti-money laundry and the monitoring of politically exposed persons in the country. 

The inter-agency meeting, chaired by the Director, Governors’ Department of the CBN, Mr. Jeremiah Abue, also agreed to improve the level of information-sharing and surveillance of the financial sector. It will be recalled that the CBN under the auspices of the Bankers’ Committee had said that any individual or corporate body found to complicit in economic crime or attempts to circumvent economic laws and regulations of the country may be barred from operating a bank account in any bank in Nigeria.