Nigeria’s fight against terrorism financing, money laundering earns more grades

Nigeria has secured additional grades in its fight against terrorism financing and money laundering, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has said.

In a statement on Monday, the agency said Nigeria’s progress was specially recognised at the 42nd meeting of the technical commission of ECOWAS’ Inter-Governmental Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), which took place between 17 and 23 November in Freetown, the Republic of Sierra Leone.

The Chief Executive Officer of NFIU, Hafsat Bakari, who doubles as Nigeria’s National Correspondence for GIABA, led Nigeria’s delegation to attend the plenary.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had in 2023 grey-listed Nigeria due to a rise in capital inflows and deficiencies in combating money laundering, terrorism and arms financing.

However, the NFIU in its Monday statement, said Nigeria has been adjudged Compliant (C) or Largely Compliant (LC) in 37 out of the 40 recommendations of the FATF.

The NFIU said the milestone was achieved following the removal of Nigeria from the partially-compliant category.

“To this end, member states of GIABA and international partners, including the FATF, have commended Nigeria on these efforts,” the statement said, adding that “the achievement will further strengthen the country’s mechanism in combating money laundering, terrorist financing, proliferation financing, and other predicate offences.”

The latest report was Nigeria’s third improvement on the FATF since the grey listing.

“During the plenary, Nigeria’s 3rd Follow-Up Report was discussed, focusing on its progress in addressing technical compliance deficiencies identified in its 2021 AML/CFT Mutual Evaluation,” the statement added.

It further noted that the Follow-Up report highlighted Nigeria’s enhanced measures in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing.

The plenary also recognised the remarkable improvement in Nigeria’s legal and regulatory framework and upgraded five key recommendations from Partially Compliant to Largely Compliant.

The recommendations upgraded include Recommendation 23 on Other Measures Relevant to Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professionals, Recommendation 24 on Transparency and Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons, Recommendation 25 on Transparency and Beneficial Ownership of Legal Arrangements, Recommendation 28 on Regulation and Supervision of DNFBPs and Recommendation 32 on Cash Couriers.