Buhari appoints Tukur as NFIU Director

President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated Modibbo Hamman Tukur as a Director of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU). Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, on Monday, stated that the appointment, which is subject to the senate confirmation, was in accordance with the provision of Section 5(1) of the NFIU Act 2018. Tukur’s nomination was contained in a letter dated January 7, 2019 to the Senate President seeking the confirmation of the nominee by the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly. Tukur, from Adamama State, is a holder of Master of Science (MSc) degree in International Business. He is currently an Assistant Director in the NFIU, and has vast international experience in illegal assets recovery. The Daily Times recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari had in July 2018, signed the NFIU Bill into law. The NFIU is the Nigerian arm of the global financial intelligence unit which was before now domiciled in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The Daily Times also recalls that on July 5, 2017, the NFIU was suspended from the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units after an embittered former director of the agency wrote a petition to the Group. Accordingly, the NFIU Act sought to comply with international standards on combating money laundering, financing of terrorism and check suspicious transactions. The establishment of the NFIU is based on the requirements of Recommendation 29 of the Financial Action Task Force Standards and Article 14 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption. NFIU will now be operate independent of the EFCC. The Unit is empowered to receive currency transactions reports, suspicious transactions reports, currency declaration reports and other information relating to money laundering and terrorist financing activities from financial institutions and designated non-financial institution. It will also receive reports on the cross-border movement of currency and monetary instruments, maintain a comprehensive financial intelligence database for information collection, analysis and exchange with counterpart FIUs and law enforcement agencies around the world. Mathew Dadiya, Abuja