The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu has directed that all Non-profit making Organisation, NGOs that are in the habit of moving cash to the North East are henceforth directed to seek clearance from the commission.
Mr. Magu made this known when he paid a courtesy visit to the Theatre Commander of the Operation Lafiya Dole in Maiduguri Borno state, Segun Adeniyi.
Speaking for the EFCC boss, Lawrence Iwodi, head of EFCC Maiduguri zonal office, revealed the initiative was taken to checkmate the crime of Terrorism financing in the region.
More so, the EFCC boss added that the Commission has been keeping tab on the activities of the Humanitarians operating in the region and will act accordingly.
In his statement, “We have successfully compiled the list of all the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in Borno and Yobe states; also their financial activities are being monitored by the EFCC, especially the one that concerns the movement of cash.
Sometimes in May, Premiumtimes reported that Mr, Magu reiterated the Need by the Nigerian authorities to direct their searchlight in the direction of the NGOs saying as some of them are the major financiers of the Terrorism.
Also in one of the report Last Year, the UN was quoted saying that “the number of doctrinally based NGOs sending funds to local terrorist groups was growing”.
Magu went to confirm this in one of the retreats organised for the newly elected governors in April organised by the Governors Forum in Abuja saying, “We discovered that there is a lot of corruption and illicit financial flow in their operations,”
Although, extortion, charitable donations, smuggling, ransoms from kidnapping as parts of ways Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in the Lake Chad Basin region are funded.
Accordingly, Magu enjoined the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria has to also ensure that such cash movements are reported.
In his contribution, Mr. Adeniyi assured that the command, under his watch, will not allow humanitarian aid workers to move undeclared funds in and out of the North-east.
The Nigerian army recently closed down the offices of two international aid groups in the Boko Haram-ravaged North-east.
It claimed the agencies were providing assistance to terrorist groups, thus affecting its efforts in the decade-long fight against insurgency in the region.
