The Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) is hosting a three-day National Workshop for Foreign Exchange Bureau operators popularly known as Bureau De Change in Nigeria, as part of measures to help curb money laundering.
The training, which seeks to enlighten the BDC operators on current global best practices is on “anti-money laundering/ combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).”
The Director General of GIABA Mr. Edwin Harris who was represented by Mr Geoffrey Esima GIABA’s acting Director of Evaluation and Compliance, said the workshop was organised to improve synergy among major stakeholders in the Bureau de change sector in Nigeria.
” National stakeholders must cooperate and collaborate to improve the compliance of the currency exchange sector with acceptable international AML/CFT preventive measu9res,” he said.
He added that GIABA is determined to support Nigeria in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing.
“GIABA will continue to provide technical support to it’s member states, including Nigeria to protect their national economies and financial system against ML/TF&PF”.
The workshop was attended by the President, Association of Bureau de change of Nigeria ABCON Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe and many members of the association.
For his part, the ABCON president commended GIABA for organising the workshop for the association.
He noted that GIABA is the first international organisation to give them such recognition. While lamenting the increasing rate of money laundering and terrorism financing in Africa, he said synergy among stakeholders is long over due.
He pledged the support of ABCON in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing.
He said “it is incumbent upon all stakeholders to work together towards addressing this challenge. As key players in the foreign exchange bureau sector, we have a responsibility to ensure that our operations are transparent, accountable and compliant with international best practices on AML/CFT”.
Alhaji Gwadabe said the event will open doors for better collaboration among stakeholders in the sector.
“I am sure that the insights and knowledge gained from this workshop will in no small measure enable us to better understand the risks associated with our operations and develop appropriate measures to mitigate these risks.
The event was attended by representatives from the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, National Financial Intelligence Unit NFIU, The Economic Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, among others.
