US embassy cable - 01ABUJA2416

UNCLAS ABUJA 002416 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EFIN, PREL, PTER, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: IMPLEMENTING UNSCR 1333 
 
 
REF: STATE 162495 
 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified, please protect accordingly. 
 
 
1. Reftel demarche was delivered September 20 to Central Bank 
Governor Joseph Sanusi and September 21 to Assistant Director 
M.K. Ibrahim of the International Organizations Department of 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Governor Sanusi, while 
unaware of the reporting requirements per UNSCR 1333, was 
supportive of the worldwide effort to prevent Usama bin Laden 
and the al-Qaeda network from accessing their financial 
assets.  Sanusi asked for a copy of the SCR, which Post 
provided.  He said that the Central Bank would review the SCR 
and the reporting requirements.  However, the CBN would need 
more specific information on the accounts and names of people 
targeted by UNSCR 1333.  With this information, Sanusi 
averred, the CBN could send circulars to all banks in Nigeria 
requesting that they search for such information. 
 
 
2.  MFA Assistant Director Ibrahim also offered his support 
for the measures described in UNSCR 1333.  While Ibrahim 
admitted he was familiar with UNSCR 1333 (as a result of the 
1998 Embassy bombings), he doubted that the GON had taken 
measures to implement the resolution.  Ibrahim promised he 
would review the SCR this weekend and write a report 
recommending actions the GON could take.  Ibrahim commented 
that these terrorists very likely launder their money from 
drugs and arms trading.  Econoff agreed and pointed out that 
Nigeria was a haven for money laundering and had recently 
been designated as a non-cooperative country by the FATF. 
Ibrahim replied that the GON had responded, albeit late, to 
the FATF questionnaire, adding that the GON "now recognized 
the importance of this issue to the international community". 
 
 
 
 
3.  Neither CBN Governor Sanusi nor MFA Assistant Director 
Ibrahim knew whether Nigeria had signed or ratified the UN 
Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. 
 Ibrahim promised to find out whether the GON had signed or 
intended to sign the Convention. 
Andrews