The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Sunday assured Nigerians that the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) bill will be passed this week.

Mr. Saraki gave the assurance via social media.

Anxiety over passage of the bill intensified when the chairman senate committee on anti-corruption, Chukwuka Utazi, accused his counterpart at the House of Representatives of hindering the progress of the bill by his failure to attend scheduled meetingsto fine-tune the bill.

The lawmaker informed his colleagues that Nigeria faces expulsion from the Egmont Group if the bill is not passed before the group’s next meeting on March 11.

Mr. Saraki in his reaction had promised to meet with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, to fast-track passage of the bill.

The Senate President on his Twitter handle, @Bukolasaraki, on Sunday said the committees of both houses will sit and pass the bill this week.

“Following my meeting on Thursday with the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara; the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption & Financial Crimes, Senator Chukwuka Utazi; and the House of Representatives Chairman on Financial Crimes, Hon. Kayode Oladele, the Conference Committee meeting for the NFIU Bill will hold tomorrow and the Report will be presented in both Chambers on Tuesday.

“I am confident that we will pass the NFIU Bill this week,” he wrote.

The NFIU bill seeks to make the country’s financial intelligence unit, currently under the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), totally independent.

The NFIU, which is domiciled in the EFCC, was in July 2017 suspended by the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units for allegedly not being independent.

Egmont Group is a global financial intelligence gathering body made up of 156 Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) representing 156 countries.

It is a platform for members to share expertise and financial intelligence to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

The group reportedly demanded autonomy for the NFIU as a condition for the suspension to be lifted.

PT