Thousands of dollars flown out of Nigeria every hour - INTERPOL

Hundreds of dollars are being laundered out of Nigeria to other African countries and worldwide every hour, the International Police Organisation (INTERPOL), disclosed on Monday, July 29.

The organisation said money laundering across Africa and the entire world has assumed a monstrous dimension, adding that it would require concerted efforts of every security agency in Nigeria and other countries to address.

Garba Baba Umar, the INTERPOL Vice President for Africa, revealed this at EFCC Academy, Abuja, when he declared a four-day workshop for Nigerian law enforcement agencies open.

The INTERPOL official, however, said the organisation has launched what he described as "Silver Notices Against Money Laundering", saying it is in a bid to frontally tackle the scourge of money laundering and illicit financial flows across the world, especially in Africa.

Umar said: "Evidence has shown that every hour, hundreds of thousands of dollars are flowing out of Nigeria to the region and across the world, laundered before it reaches the pockets of criminals to enjoy the profits of their crimes, while the hardworking and honest Nigerians pay the price of crime.

"With every successful laundering of criminal money, our country becomes more prone to crime. More drugs, more fraud, more corruption and more violence. Every time criminal money is successfully laundered, our financial institutions take an additional blow..."

He said that hard times await money launderers as the Initiative "Silver Notices" would make illicit funds more difficult to launder in any part of the world.

Speaking on the workshop theme: "Strengthening Capacity and Coordination against Financial Crimes" Umar noted that financial crimes had become transnational and law enforcement agencies needed regular training for their workforce to be ahead of fraudsters.

He said, "In essence, this Workshop will give us the opportunity to re-examine the challenges of fighting transnational crimes in the country, reassess our strategies, and reaffirm our determination and unity as a country to provide security to our citizens and by extension the global community."