The chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, has said that a good understanding of risk assessment is crucial to the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

Speaking at a two-day National Risk Assessment Workshop yesterday, Lamorde stated that unlike in the business community, stakeholders in public sector management had yet to appreciate the importance of risk assessment, adding that money laundering and terrorist financing posed a lot of risks to national health.

Lamorde, who spoke through the director, Public Affairs Department (PAD), Osita Nwajah, said: ‘‘We owe it to Nigeria to contribute our quota in making the National Risk Assessment a success by prioritising the allocation of our scarce resources to and amongst government agencies, while also providing feed back to the Anti-Money Laundering( AML) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism ( CFT) risk assessments already conducted by our partners in the private sector.

‘‘Over all, the NRA, on completion, will afford us not only the necessary leverage towards an excellent performance in the evaluation of Nigeria by the regional FATF-FRSB GIABA in 2017, but enhance our country’s eligibility to the FATF membership.’’

Also speaking, the director of Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Francis Usani, emphasised the need for the completion of the NRA project in time as a condition for Nigeria to remain the sub-regional champion on the AML/CFT matters, while also positioning itself for the second round of mutual evaluation.

In his remarks, chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Mr. Nta Ekpo, urged Nigerians ‘‘to be resolute in the fight to install integrity, transparency and accountability in both the private and public sectors.’’

FG Amends 2011, 2013 Terrorism Prevention Act

Meanwhile, the Ministry of justice has disclosed that it has made a comprehensive review of the Terrorism Prevention Act and harmonised the 2011 and 2013 Acts into one comprehensive legislation.