The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, on Monday lamented that the security threat faced by Nigeria and other West African countries had been evolving in ways unimagined.
Specifically, he noted that the threat posed by Artificial Intelligence and generative technologies was manifesting as a new means of fraud.
He made this known during the inauguration of the 27th meeting of the ministerial committee of the Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa in Abuja on Monday.
Fagbemi, however, called for an assessment to determine the current and long-term threats experienced by counties in the region.
He said, “Ladies and gentlemen, it is very clear that the threats we are facing will only continue to grow and evolve in unanticipated ways. In particular, the threat of artificial intelligence and generative technologies are already beginning to manifest new avenues for fraud.
“At the policy level, we must make all efforts to ensure that we understand the range of threats that we face and those that will confront us in the future. This emphasises the need for continuous and ongoing ways of risk assessment and typologies work. ”
The AGF also said the decentralised finance system in use in many countries in the region has enabled illicit financial flows which according to him has made tracing and identifying difficult for law enforcement agents.
He said, “The increasing spread and dynamism in technology coupled with geo-political fragility are creating fertile ground for organised criminal groups and transnational terrorist organisations to conduct their illegal activities on a global scale.
“In particular, the explosion in decentralised finance has created opportunities for the kind of anonymous financial systems that facilitates illicit financial flows and hampers the ability of our law enforcement and regulatory agencies to trace and identify the proceeds of criminal activity.”
Fagbemi, however, called for the development of institutional frameworks for the enforcement of financial crime regulations in the region.
He said, “Our collective commitment to put in place legislative policy and institutional frameworks is necessary to protect the integrity of our financial systems from threats of money laundering, terrorist and proliferation financing.”
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