NFIU and Diplomatic Missions in Nigeria: Municipal Law Vs Exterritoriality in International Law Bola A. Akinterinwa NFIU is Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit. It was set up with a mission statement to ‘safeguard the Nigerian financial sys
NFIU is Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit. It was set up with a mission statement to ‘safeguard the Nigerian financial system and contribute to the global fight against money laundering, terrorism financing and related crimes through the provision of credible financial intelligence.
Without any shadow of doubt, the NFIU guidelines appear to have been largely inspired by many factors. First is the fact that, in the period from 2015 to 2022, the Federal Government collected the sum of N225.72bn, while the States withdrew N701.54bn, and the Local Governments withdrew N156.76bn all, in cash. In the words of Mr. Tukur, ‘the rate of withdrawal above the threshold from public accounts has been alarming, over N701bn has been withdrawn in cash from 2015 till date.
In the eyes of the proponents of applicability of the NFIU guidelines, the enforcement of the guidelines and policy is to mitigate money laundering, terrorism financing, and proliferation of weapons and prevent predicate crimes. Former Ambassador of Nigeria to Algeria, Mohammed Mabdul, has argued that ‘even though the foreign embassies represent their home countries, the moment they are posted to another country, they are governed by the laws of the country.
In the same vein, Ambassador Rasheed Akinkuolie gave the reasons of immunity and reciprocity as major challenges to the application of the guidelines. As he reportedly put it, ‘diplomatic missions in Nigeria fall under “exceptions to the guidelines” in the NFIU cash withdrawal policy. Foreign missions cannot be restrained in any way in their legitimate activities in a host country, including their financial transactions.
Consequently, we posit here that the NFIU guidelines are applicable to all diplomatic missions as representatives of sovereign States.
On the specific issue of non-interference in the internal affairs of the receiving State, it is useful to understand the principle of non-interference in context.
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