Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Prevention Strategies Among Nigeria Law Enforcement Agencies in Akure Metropolis

ABSTRACT

Money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TF) are global challenges that undermine financial systems, facilitate organized crime, and threaten national and international security. The study examined money laundering and terrorism financing prevention strategies in Department of State Security Service, Nigeria Police Force, and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, with the view to understand the nature of terrorist activities in Nigeria, examine the modes of money laundering for terrorism financing in Nigeria, assess the effectiveness of current prevention strategies in mitigating money laundering and terrorism financing in Nigeria, identify the key challenges faced by Nigerian law enforcement agencies in preventing money laundering and terrorism financing, and identify solutions that can effectively mitigate money laundering and terrorism in Nigeria.In direct effort to achieve the objectives of the study, five research questions guided the study. The study adopted the descriptive research design. The population for this study comprised of both male and female law enforcement agents of the above mentioned law enforcement agencies. A total of one hundred respondents were selected using purposive and sampling technique from the target population. Self-constructed questionnaire was the instrument used to collect data for this study. Data collected were statistically analysed using frequency and percentage to interpret the responses at the norminal level in the questionnaire.The findings of this study established that money laundering primarily finance the recruitment of terrorists in relation to terrorism, money laundering primary support terrorist activities in Nigeria by creating illegitimate business that fund terrorist operation, the real estate sector is most suspectible to money laundering for terrorist financing in Nigeria, criminal organizations are most likely to be involved in money laundering to support terrorist activities, and corruption with the financial sector is the primary reason for the connection between money laundering and terrorism in Nigeria. Direct bank to bank transaction in cash is a mode of money laundering that is most prevalent in Nigeria, transferring funds under the guide of humanitarian aid is a money laundering avenue that terrorist get finance, commercial banks are most vulnerable to being exploited for terrorism-related money laundering, domestic routes within Nigeria are most commonly associated with money laundering related to terrorism financing, the hospitality and finance sector are frequently exploited for money laundering to finance terrorism. Corruption is the main challenge to the effectiveness of current prevention strategies, regular data sharing and intelligence gathering with neighbouring country is a strategy Nigeria has implemented to improve cross border cooperation in combating money laundering for terrorist financing, Nigeria’s implementation of know your customer (KYC) has decreased the risk of terrorism financing. Corruption within certain sectors has no impact on anti-money laundering efforts, there is limited data sharing and coordination between agencies which has become a challenge in combating money laundering and terrorism financing in Nigeria, the lack of adequate digital forensic tools is a technological challenge that hinders Nigerian law enforcement agencies in tracking and preventing money laundering, training focuses too much on digital crime, ignoring traditional methods also affects negatively the anti-money laundering efforts. Lastly, increasing penalties and enforcing stricter regulations is a measure that would strengthen Nigeria’s ability to combat money laundering, creating a centralized database for information sharing would enhance inter-agency cooperation to combat money laundering effectively, technology limits the detection of financial crimes, implementing strict Know Your Customer (KYC) and due diligence policies can enhance the accountability of financial institutions in preventing money laundering and terrorism financing, and by allowing Nigeria to act independently in financial matters, international cooperation an help Nigeria combat money laundering and terrorism financing.The study highlighted the significant connections between money laundering and terrorist activities. It is clear that the financial mechanisms utilized by terrorists often involve complex laundering methods that exploit existing weaknesses in regulatory frameworks.Keywords: Money Laundering, Terrorism, Law Enforcement Agencies, Terrorism Financing, and Counter Terrorism Word count: 600