The countries are Benin; Burkina Faso; Cabo Verde; Comores; Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea Bissau; Liberia; Mali; Niger; Nigeria; Sao Tome and Principe; Senegal; Sierra Leone and Togo.
The countries’ Financial Intelligence Units met in Abuja on Tuesday to develop an action plan that would provide effective solutions to financial complexities associated with terrorism and the proliferation of weapons in the region.
Speaking at the Units’ inaugural meeting, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, said terror attacks had stifled development in the region.
He lamented that terrorist groups were getting strong in the region as a result of the multiple sources of funding they had been receiving from both local and international partners.
Mustapha said, “The frequency of terror attacks around the region due to the activities of Boko Haram, the Islamic State’s West Africa Province, and other related groups has deprived many people of attaining their full pot potential very significant cost to the socioeconomic development of the region.
“The security threats and other forms of insurgency are being aggressively tackled by various governments and institutions, however, the sophisticated and evolving techniques used by the terrorists in financing their activities have continued to be the greatest challenge facing the region.
“The terrorist groups have managed to sustain their operations with the finances they received from multiple sources aided by the complex transnational and transactional criminal networks that are operating in the region alongside their global partners. ”
Mustapha added that terrorism funding would be eradicated when the countries adopt regional measures to tackle the scourge.
He said, “The countries must develop and support the implementation of an efficient and effective regional roadmap in the fight against terrorism financing.
Also, we must encourage the armed forces, judicial authorities, regulatory agencies, law enforcement, and FIUs in the region to use encrypted and secure channels in sharing intelligence/information and promoting international cooperation rough the regional sharing partnerships mechanism in terrorism financing.”
The Director-General, Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa, Edwin Harris Jnr., urged the government of member-countries to give their support to their FIUs to enable them to carry out their mandates effectively.
He said, “We believe if individual countries play their roles, our fight against money laundering and terrorism funding will go a long way. The scourge has taken away our economies, lives, and loved ones. We need to curtail it so that our region can have a sound economy. We call on the countries to support their FIUs. We come together as we did during the fight against Ebola and COVID-19 to stamp out terrorism from our region. “
