₦airaland Forum

By NewsDesk,

The Kwara State Commissioner of Police, CP Kayode Egbetokun, has assured the state of the command’s commitment towards ideals of modern policing system, such that would ensure adequate protection of lives and property in Kwara.

Egbetokun stated that, in achieving the modern policing system, entire Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) and Area Commanders in the state have been charged to embrace philosophy of community oriented policing, with expectation of other officers to adapt new levels of transparency and professionalism that could build trust and inspire public confidence in the police.

While addressing officers at the state’s command recently, the CP disclosed that himself and his men were committed to ideals of modern policing, such that its methodology is community based, intelligence led and technology driven.

He hinted that, base on the commitment, the command’s intelligence unit was revitalised to provide credible intelligence so as to enhance quality of decisions with respect to operations.

Recounting on a recent communal clashes in Moro and Oke ero Local Governments Areas in the state that claimed eight lives while properties worth million of Naira were destroyed, Egbetokun noted that timely intervention by the command had impact in arresting and calming situation within the axis

“Consequently, all DPOs have been directed to start holding monthly peace and security meetings with all stake holders in their local communities. This is aimed at promoting peace and enhance the security of the local communities. It is also mandatory for DPOs to establish and maintain robust collaboration with sister agencies within their areas”.

Besides, Egbetokun, whose attention was recently drawn to police extortion on the state’s highways, cleared that it was unethical for officers to seize or search unsuspecting members of the public mobile phones on road.

He explained that while police have responsibility to conduct stop and search, the practice of searching phone of an individual on road, for evidence of internet fraud, amounts to conducting roadside investigation, and also becomes a criminal offence should such unethical conduct ended in extortion or done with intent to extort.

“Some policemen on patrol, not all, have been reported to be stopping young men on the road and searching their phones on suspicion that they are internet fraudsters called “yahoo yahoo boys”.

“In some cases the young men, mostly University undergraduates are made to part with as little or as much as N2,000.00 for their release or release of their phones. The command frowns at this ugly trend. and will stop at nothing in identifying and dealing with the culprits accordingly”, he said.

Egbetokun, however, informed that policemen under the state’s command, particularly those on patrol , have been warned to desist from acts of criminal extortion, adding that, extortion by police while bearing fire arms is consider as armed robbery .

According to him, any policeman found engaging in any form of extortion while armed on the highways will be arrested, detained tried and if found guilty dismissed and charged with armed robbery.

“Members of the public are advised to report any case of police extortion directly to my office through 09033871133, 07015338157, 08070734277”.

“The police will serve the community better if there is collaboration. The gap between the police and the community is often exploited by criminals to the disadvantage of citizens. Criminals hardly operate where the Police and the community collaborate.

“I appeal to all stake holders and indeed all law abiding citizens and residents to give full cooperation to the police in their localities for the police to serve them better”, he urged

By Aroture Odiri

February 2019 was supposed to be a month of love but the European Union wasn’t showing any affection to Nigeria. Since money is the number one reason for suspicion, disagreement and divorce, it came as no surprise that it was the reason the EU added Nigeria to a list of 23 states that pose money laundering and terror financing risks. The move was necessitated by the need to combat money laundering on the part of the EU. Other countries on the list include Saudi Arabia and Panama.

The warning signs were there. Back in July of 2017, the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units suspended the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) for a lack of independence.
The Egmont Group is a global body of 155 financial intelligence units across the world. The Group makes sharing of financial intelligence, expertise, and capability easier across the world.

The lack of independence allegation stemmed from the NFIU being under the purview the EFCC and lacking its own legal framework, which was frowned upon by international standards. The implication of this was dire. If the credibility of Nigeria’s financial watchdogs was called into question, it would affect the inflow of funds from international sources.

Diaspora remittances ($25bn in 2018), foreign direct investment ($3.3bn in 2018), and a swath of other avenues of fund flows into Nigeria would be affected. Someone had to arrest the situation.

Cue the National Assembly. Recognizing the urgent need for action, they passed the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Agency (NFIA) Bill, which separated the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) from the EFCC and structured the organization in line with international standards, ergo providing it with its own framework. The National Assembly passed this bill by March 2018, and by July 2018 the Presidency signed it into Law. In September of 2018, the Egmont Group lifted the suspension.

The law empowers NFIU to receive currency transaction reports, suspicious transaction reports, currency declaration reports, and other information relating to money laundering and terrorist financing activities, from financial institutions and designated non-financial institutions. Additionally, the organization will receive reports on the cross-border movement of money and other monetary instruments and also maintain a well updated financial database for collection and retention of information.

Fast forward to February 2019, and again Nigeria had to address the latest move by the EU which placed it on the 23-state list of “dirty money” countries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NFIU reached out to the EU and provided assurances that based on the bill passed by the National Assembly and signed into law by the President, the country would be addressing money laundering with the utmost seriousness. 


On 25th March 2019, the European Union took Nigeria off the list of high-risk countries with deficiencies in money laundering and terrorism financial control. The NFIU's media analyst while fielding questions from journalists stated; "We are also using this medium to respond to inquiries about the current position of the EU's recent listing of Nigeria as High-risk third country with a deficiency in money laundering and terrorism financing controls." He continued, "The listing was officially withdrawn by the Council of Europe on 5th March 2019 while giving room for the European Commission and the European Parliament to align their positions.”

Thanks to swift action from the National Assembly, billions of dollars in remittances and foreign direct investment have been saved. A further unquantifiable amount in reputational damage was also salvaged. This latest heroic move by the legislature is a testament to where Nigeria ranks on its list of priorities and shows that over the last four years the positive impact of their decisions has been felt around the country. From the “Not too young to run” bill to the passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance bill among others, it is a record to be proud of.