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ECOWAS Experts Move Against Terror Financing, Money Laundering

Speaking at the opening of a two-day Training of Trainers, ToT, on Countering the Financing of Terrorism, CFT, for Anglophone GIABA member states at the National Institute for Security Studies, NISS, in Abuja, Director-General of GIABA, Edwin W. Harris Jr., said money laundering and the financing of terrorism continue to adversely impact the socio-economic development, peace, and security of member states and beyond.

He said in the last decade, the ECOWAS community had experienced an increasing level of terrorism, radicalisation, and violent extremism at an alarming rate.

“The GIABA Community shares this global concern regarding the current situation in the Central Sahel area and North-Eastern Nigeria and will continue to provide the necessary support to mitigate the money laundering and terrorist risks identified in line with the ECOWAS Priority Agenda,” he said

According to him, GIABA’s typology reports revealed the rapid evolution in the sources, methods, and techniques of terrorist financing, taking advantage of loopholes in legislation (such as the incompleteness of the terrorist financing criminalization regime), and the opportunities offered by digital finance and the power of cybernetic tools.

He said: “Even though the banking sector in most of our countries have taken steps to implement the UN sanctions lists (UNSC Resolution 1267) in terms of targeted financial sanctions linked to TF, there is still a vast majority of the private sector (particularly the DNFBP sector, Electronic Money Issuers, microfinances, Money and Value Transfer Services, insurance companies etc) that are struggling to align themselves.

“As for national sanctions lists, they remain severely handicapped by lack of operationality of national designation mechanisms under UNSC Resolution 1373.

“GIABA’s approach to supporting countries in their fight against the financing of terrorism is to bring their prevention and enforcement systems in line with international standards, particularly those of the Financial Action Task Force, FATF.

“In practice, this means providing countries with appropriate legal and institutional frameworks and building their capacity to implement these frameworks effectively. Most recently, in November 2023, GIABA organized a regional stakeholders’ workshop for operational agencies to engage them on the outcomes of our various typology reports for future adaptations and their responses to emerging threats.

“Counterterrorism can no longer be the exclusive domain of the military services. GIABA and FATF’s studies have rightly revealed that terrorists are increasingly using legitimate commercial enterprises to raise funds, as well as non-profit organizations, the abusive exploitation of extractive and mining resources, donations, crowdfunding, and above all, the proceeds of criminal activities such as kidnapping for ransom, extortion, illicit drug trafficking, illicit trade in small arms and light weapons, trafficking in arts and antics, etc. Terrorists also manage to move these collected funds through front companies, money or value couriers, using payment methods such as prepaid cards, mobile banking, or virtual assets.”

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