FATF
Some excellent news reported in today's Punch: Nigeria is expected to be taken off the International Financial Action Task Force (FATF) blacklist this June at a meeting in Paris. Nigeria's listing on FATF, the global anti-money laundering body, is one of the key reasons why the recently introduced Nigerian Mastercards are not accepted outside the country. The lifting of Nigeria from the blacklist welcomes the country back into the trusted international fold and should allow Nigerian-issued Mastercards (and the new Visa card soon to take over from ValuCard) to be used abroad. It also is one more step in lifting Nigeria's reputation out of the international doldrums.
The removal from FATF is largely due to the excellent and tireless work of the Financial Intelligence Unit within the EFCC.
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5 comments:
"...removal from FATF..." is excellent news however "..allow Nigerian-issued Mastercards (and the new Visa card soon to take over from ValuCard) to be used abroad.." is another matter upon which I would not like to comment...
ha ha! good news, n'est pas? been celebrating all day till someone in my office burst my balloon and said Baba is going to use the money we should be using to service the debt to settle National Assembly members !
Between King Mswati III of Swaziland and King (third term bought and paid for) Obasanjo I of Nigeria, I wonder who is the bigger spendthrift.
We earn international praise and swander the goodwill for more opprobrium.
Mswati... handsome for nothing. All over Swaziland, you're confronted with WFP (World Food Programme) posters. Yet, this dude just sits everyday waiting for the next reed dance. Our continent and its bunch of jokers. They accomplish great strides and turn back to trample upon their very successes. 1st on the ladder: our mighty Mugabe. Who can help me beg Baba not to follow this accursed path? He has done well but I've always believed that the hallmark of an incumbent is training a good successor. By not doing this, Baba has allowed some bunch of no-gooders get cheap publicity. Anyway, that's a story for another day. For now, I'll bask in the euphoria of today's joy. Hopefully, it won't become an agony tomorrow.
Dear Ayoke,
You hit on a very important issue there - succession planning.
In the West, it is called mentoring, a positive process of grooming a protege for leadership by exploiting the protege's potential.
Our brand of mentoring is better referred to as God-fatherism (sic) where nepotism and self-interest along with the corrupt manipulation of mediocrity for excellence prepares a cabal of miscreants for the trough (looting the treasury).
It is not helped by the fact that our parents did so well in the building blocks of our education but quite badly in the end-game of retirement planning.
This feeds into the grab-all mentality that pervades the lack of life-long mentoring where public service is supposed to be good, integrity is important and honesty is a given.
We end up being trained with great skills but no virtues or values - it is the failing our polity that people in leadership subscribe to the hubris of unassailability vegetating into eternal incumbency. [1]
Reference
[1] The Indulgence of incumbency
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