NFIU: We have access to bank account details of all public officers

The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has disclaimed reports that it requested the bank account details of officers of the national assembly and the judiciary.

In a statement on Friday, Ahmed Dikko, chief media analysts of the agency, said such reports are false.

He said the agency has access to the bank details of all accounts in the country, including those of public officers, so it does not need to request such information.

“The attention of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), has been drawn to media reports stating that the unit has requested banks to furnish it with the account details of principal officers of the National Assembly and the Judiciary. Such reports are not true,” he said.

“In line with its powers as provided in the NFIU Act 2018, the Unit already has access to details of all bank accounts in the country and does not therefore, need to write to commercial banks asking for the same information.”

Dikko said law enforcement agencies rely on the NFIU for information on the bank account details of individuals and corporate bodies.

He said the unit, which serves as a source to other agencies, cannot therefore request such information.

“As a matter of fact, relevant reporting entities such as investigative and other Law Enforcement Agencies always rely on the NFIU for information on bank details of individuals and body corporate under investigation as they go about carrying out their functions. Such is a mandatory reporting process,” he said.

“The Unit does not also make blanket requests to all banks as is being speculated in the reports. The media and indeed the general public are therefore, requested to disregard such reports.”