Compliance Institute Nigeria Officers charged to boost war against corruption, money laundering

A new crop of Nigerian professionals, armed with the compliance culture, have been charged to give a boost to the war against corruption, money laundering and terrorism financing.

The new crop of compliance professionals beginning with the financial sector were charged by the Compliance Institute, Nigeria (CIN) through an oath of allegiance sworn at its inaugural investiture ceremony in Lagos.

With over 900 pioneer members cutting across  three membership categories of Fellow, Compliance Institute, Nigeria (FCIN), Associate, Compliance Institute, Nigeria (ACIN) and Designate Compliance Professional (DCP), CIN is set to encourage, promote and revive the consciousness for compliance within and outside the financial industry in the country.

Expressing confidence that CIN would serve as a major catalyst for change in the way things are done in the corporate environment, the president, CIN, Pattison Boleigha said the activities of the institute would further help to salvage the image of Nigeria abroad.

“We also intend to use this to create professionals who will help all institutions in the country to be able to come up with policies to monitor crime: to monitor money laundering, corruption and even terrorists’ financing. So, we are heading towards the right direction and we believe with these Nigeria will begin to gain more respect in the international community and this will open more doors for companies and industries in Nigeria who would no longer be considered as high risk as it is today,” Boleigha stated.

He said: “When we started we actually wanted to have a compliance institute for the entire spectrum of compliance but we needed to start somewhere so we had to start from the financial industry. Today we have as our coverage financial institutions and non-financial institutions, Designated Non-financial Businesses and Professions which include lawyers, accountants, hoteliers, car dealers and so on. In the near future we intend to involve the oil and gas, the telecoms, manufacturing, food and beverages, medicine, aviation and all the rest because compliance is everywhere and compliance is needed everywhere; in fact we’re even going into the public service and the rest of West Africa .”

Mr. Pattison Boleigha was elected President of the Institute, Mr. Aminu Buhari Isah as Vice President, Mr. Raheem Awodeyi as Treasurer and Mr. Abimbola Adeseyoju as Publicity Secretary. Three other Trustees were elected into the board namely: Mrs Isioma Gogo-Anazodo, Mr Rotimi Omotayo and Mrs Oluyemisi Olukoya.