The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has said some politicians and senior government officials are pressurising its staff to reveal classified information.
In a statement sent to Daily Trust, Chief Media Analyst of the unit, Ahmed Dikko, explained that laws and standards of Nigeria only permit the unit to share information with enforcement, regulatory, Defence and Security and corresponding agencies in over 170 countries.
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Dikko warned concerned persons to desist from putting illegal pressure on the unit and stop inordinate requests for information from it.
He noted that the unit shares the information with the countries because they are also co-owners and co-controllers of intelligence and compliance processes at all Financial Intelligence Units.
“We are forced to react to attempts to introduce politics, illegal pressure on and inordinate requests for information from the NFIU.”
“We had to appropriately enlighten all calibre of officers in this category to know that Intelligence Institutions of government are generally apolitical, operating within a fixed and tailored mandate.
“The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit is also an agency created at the heart of global best practice to support crime analysis and Intelligence building locally and internationally,” Dikko said.
Daily Trust reports that NFIU was a department at the Economic Financial and Crimes Commission (EFCC) before it was unbundled a few years ago.