*Modibbo Tukur, Managing Director and CEO of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, discloses the move is essentially, to protect innocent public officers, as most cash withdrawals from government accounts usually, exceed withdrawal limit contained in the Money Laundering Act in the West African country

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

In line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) current Naira redesign policy regarding Over-the Counter (OTC) withdrawals, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) discloses it is announcing fresh guidelines on cash withdrawals from all government accounts Thursday, January 5, 2023.

ConsumerConnect learnt the information was contained in a document released Tuesday night.

Hitherto, the NFIU had put all necessary measures in place to stop cash withdrawals from Federal, state, and local government areas’ bank accounts.

Modibbo Tukur, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NFIU, who stated this at a parley with Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, in Abuja, FCT.

He said that the country’s Money Laundering Prohibition Act is automatically activated.

Tukur further stated that most cash withdrawals from government accounts, including payments for Estacode are often more than the cash withdrawal limit provided by the Money Laundering Act.

According to the NFIU Chief Executive, this scenario has exposed innocent public servants to be liable to imprisonment, if convicted.

Tukur stated that the NFIU is developing an advisory to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), all Governors and Local Government Council Chairmen to direct all public servants to open domiciliary and Naira bank accounts ahead of the commencement of the policy, which becomes compulsory by law.

Governors and Council Chairmen, Tukur said, will need to organise training for market men and women on how to use Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) and Point of Sale (PoS) services.

He as well refuted reports making the rounds that the NFIU would block the Federal Government’s accounts January 2023.

It is recalled that NFIU had flagged suspicious transactions valued at over N150trillion between January and March 2022, according to its ‘suspicious transaction report/suspicious activity report.’

The development followed an earlier announcement by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and NFIU officials that they had intensified surveillance on campaign spending by political parties and their candidates ahead of the 2023 General Elections.