The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has revealed that the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit has discovered individuals and companies financing terrorism in the country.
The Big Picture.
At a briefing in Abuja, the Minister said that the Intelligence Unit, which analyzed a 2020-2021 period, not only discovered 96 financiers but also 123 companies and 33 bureaux de change associated with acts of terrorism. Although the Minister didn’t release the names of people or companies involved in the allegations, he said security agencies have arrested about 45 suspects to face prosecution.
In the report by the Intelligence Unit, an analysis of tax evasion linked to corruption in the 2020-2021 period showed N3,909,707,678,112.43 in VAT and N3,737,918,335,785.82 in Withholding Tax. He also added that the intelligence unit report had “intelligence exchanges between Boko Haram, ISWAP, banditry, kidnapping and others with 19 countries”.