FATF Commends Nigeria’s Efforts at Strengthening Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Terrorist Financing

Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), has recognized the progress made by Nigeria towards strengthening her Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (AML/CFT) measures.

FATF which is the body responsible for setting global standard on AML/ CFT issues, made the commendation on Friday, at the end of its October Plenary Meeting in Paris, France.

A statement by the spokesman of the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Mr Sani Tukur, disclosed that the task force during the meeting also approved Nigeria’s 4th Progress Report following the inclusion of Nigeria on the list of jurisdictions under monitoring, in the so-called grey list, in February 2023.

He stated that Nigeria in the report was adjudged to “now have strong systems in place for international cooperation to address serious crimes including asset recovery, strengthened systems for national coordination to fight terrorism, and to have effective measures to ensure the non-profit sector is not used to finance terrorism”.

Nigeria, since her inclusion on the list, has made progress on the implementation of an Action Plan to address the deficiencies which were identified in the country’s 2021 AML/CFT Mutual Evaluation Report.

Meanwhile, NFIU’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mrs. Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, who was in Paris for the meeting stated that “Through the concerted efforts of all public and private sector stakeholders who are involved in Nigeria’s systems to ensure the integrity of the financial system, we have been able to complete almost half of the items that were included in the country’s Action Plan to exit the grey list.”

She further reiterated “We are confident that with the sustained effort and the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, members of the Federal Executive Council and the Inter-Ministerial Committee on AML/CFT chaired by the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and the Honourable Ministers of Finance and Interior, Nigeria will complete all remaining actions before the deadline of May 2025”.

Mrs. Bakari extended her deepest appreciation and congratulations to all stakeholders and particularly the Commander in Chief, the Attorney-General of the Federation and the leaders of all the agencies that have made huge strides to get Nigeria off the grey list and encouraged all stakeholders to sustain the efforts.

In other decisions at the Paris Plenary meeting, the FATF also updated its grey-list, following the successful completion of its Action Plan Senegal has now been delisted while Algeria, Angola, Cote D’Ivoire and Lebanon have now been added to the monitoring list.