The Nigeria Tourism development Corporation  (NTDC) and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) have formed a strong alliance to shut down the channels through which hotels in the country are currently used by corrupt officials to facilitate laundering of embezzled funds.

Both agencies promised to emabark on investigations and ensure that hotels deeply involved in facilitating  the siphoning of funds to foreign destinations are made to face the wrath of the law as a step to stem the nefarious act.

While planning tougher security measures around the complex, financial transacations of hotels involving large amounts they threatened to decisively deal with perpetrators of all forms of cross-border financial crimes that hide under the pretext of tourism engagement. The two agencies also, last week, agreed not o allow supposed tourists coming into the country or leaving for other destinations the room for maneuvers through possession of hug sums.

Farida Waziri, chairman of EFCC, while receiving Otunba Olusegun Runsewe director of NTDC, noted that Nigeria is richly endowed in tourism and should be developed to a level that it would serve as a veritable alternative source of revenue for the country. She said every effort would be made to frustrate attempts to injure the economy or further tarnish the image of the country by a few elements under the disguise of tourism.

Waziri lamented that the perception on Nigeria’s image abroad was still on the negative side, especially on the issue of scammers. Consequently, she said that the EFCC had recently created a transaction clearing platform (TCP) to tackle the menace of 419 letters emanating from Nigeria.

“The TCP will perform basic due diligence in respect  of business proposals received by foreigners from Nigeria and confirm the authencity of such proposals,” she said. “It will also host the authentic names and contact details of Nigeria institutions that scammers always impersonate just as she formally request the NTDC to also furnish the EFCC with its relevant details which will be hosted on the TCP.”

Runsewe, who told his EFCC counterpart that it was necessary to effectively manage “the country’s tourism profile, said “the time has come for us to repair this country from the menace of 419.”

He also intimidated Farida that since NTDC’s similar collaboration with the Corporate Affairs Commission on the registration of tourism related business, crime rate in that area had reduced drastically.