The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has lost the battle to have the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit domiciled under it.
This followed an agreement by the leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives to move the NFIU to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The domiciling of the NFIU had been one of the sore points in the NFIU Bill between the Senate and the House of Representatives.
While the Senate wanted the NFIU to be under the CBN, the House of Representatives preferred it where it had been since establishment under the EFCC.
In the past, this had led to a lot of crisis between the EFCC and the NFIU, with the leadership of both agencies clashing even in the open.
However, The Eagle Online gathered that the leadership of both the Senate and the House of Representatives have resolved to send the NFIU to the CBN.
It was learnt that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has informed the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Financial and Economic Crimes, Hon. Kayode Oladele, that a decision had been reached by the leadership of the National Assembly to domicile the NFIU in the CBN.
Dogara was said to have met with the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on the matter.
Another meeting, held on Thursday night, with Saraki, Dogara, Oladele and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Financial and Economic Crimes, Senator Godfrey Chukwuka Utazi, in attendance, finalised details of the NFIU Bill, thus making it set for passage next week.
There had been fears that if Nigeria failed to meet a March 11, 2018 deadline, the Egmont Group would suspend Nigeria, which will in turn lead to the deactivation of the monetary instruments of the country, especially debit cards, worldwide.
Sources said told The Eagle online that once the House of Representatives passes its own version of the Bill, sponsored by Oladele, it would quickly be harmonised by a Conference Committee of both the House and the Senate and sent to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.