By 
The Director General of the Department of State Services, Alhaji Yusuf Bichi Magaji, has advised that Nigerians can defeat terrorism and related crimes such as terrorism financing and money laundering if all the security agencies in the country agree to work in synergy by sharing intelligence.
Magaji made the advocacy at the end of a two-day workshop on terrorism, financing risks and money laundering for security agencies and judicial officers in Abuja.
The DG said having contended with terrorism for over a decade, it was imperative for all hands to be on deck to defeat the atrocity and give Nigerians a new lease of life.
But Magaji cautioned that to be able to silence terrorism and checkmate terrorism financing and money laundering, security agencies must be ready to be ahead of the strategies often applied by terrorists and render them impotent.
The DGDSS said, “Nigeria has been fighting terrorism for over a decade now and we need to bring it to an end. We must have synergy among security agencies in the fight against terrorism. Without intelligence sharing amongst all the stakeholders, all efforts will be wasted.
“In order to prevail over the menace of terrorism, terrorism financing and money laundering, we must strive to do the right thing by being able to identify the terrorist and assemble adequate data to prosecute them with incontrovertible evidence.
“This is necessary terrorists are always trying to be ahead of security. To be ahead you must disrupt their intent and allies by being able to track their antics and strategies and being able to stop them before they strike.
“We must be more sophisticated than terrorists in whatever we do. Planning well is key in tackling terrorism. Assemble your facts very well so as to succeed in proving the case in court. It is time to end terrorism in Nigeria and we must not fail.
Magaji said: “The ever-changing nature and sophistication of threats make it
to fashion out better and efficient ways to tackle threats. Among the evolving global crimes, is money laundering and terrorism financing, which requires the development of a working National Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime for the country.
“Nigeria as a committed stakeholder, needs to contribute its quota in protecting the integrity and stability of the international financial system by terminating resources available to terrorists, as well as making it difficult for those engaged in crime not to profit from their criminal activities, as stipulated by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
“This process requires countries to identify, assess and understand prevailing terrorist financing risks, with a view to mitigating same. A Nation striving for cohesion like ours must effectively disrupt terrorist networks through the application of anti-money laundering/countering Financing terrorism measures.
“Through money laundering, criminal organizations and organized crime syndicates, benefit from their illegal activities, with some utilizing cross-border channels such as drug and human trafficking, and arms smuggling among others. With criminal elements perfecting concealment of origin of illicit funds, it behoves us, that a strengthened anti-criminal response to money laundering activities will contribute to cutting off sources of finance as well as countering the financial incentives which drive the crime,” the DG said.
Comments