The Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit has vowed sanctions for any commercial bank which allowed transactions from any local government account without monies first reaching the LG account.
In addition, the agency said no cash withdrawal exceeding N500,000 per day could be made from any local government account with effect from June 1,2019, noting that any other transaction must be done through valid cheques or electronic funds transfer.
The NFIU in an emailed statement by its acting Chief Media Analyst, Ahmed Dikko, on Monday, directed all financial institutions, relevant stakeholders, public servants and the public to ensure full compliance with the provisions of the guidelines which had been submitted to financial institutions and relevant enforcement agencies.
It stated that the directive was sequel to findings which indicated that cash withdrawals and transactions of the State and Joint Local Government Accounts posed the “biggest corruption, money laundering and security threats at the grassroots levels and to the entire financial system and the country as a whole.”
The anti-graft agency further explained that the measures were necessitated by the threats of isolation of the Nigerian financial system by other international financial systems on account of the deficiencies in the nation’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing implementation.
The NFIU explained that it would not allow the system to suffer the deliberate and expensive infractions or violations by public officials and private business interests.
