Nigeria trains 100 officials ahead of anti-money laundering assessment

Nigeria has begun training 100 government officials ahead of its next international assessment of efforts to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation.

In a statement shared with PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), the five-day training began in Abuja on Monday and will prepare the officials for a mock evaluation scheduled for November.

The exercise comes nearly a year after Nigeria was removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list following steps to address weaknesses in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing system.

Speaking at the opening of the training, NFIU Chief Executive Officer Hafsat Bakari said Nigeria must show that its laws and policies were effective in practice.

“Nigeria must be ready to not only explain its laws, policies and institutional arrangements, but also to demonstrate the results they deliver,” she said.

The FATF removed Nigeria from its list of countries under increased monitoring on 24 October 2025, after the country completed an action plan to address identified deficiencies.

It urged Nigeria to continue working with the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) to sustain the progress.

Preparing for the assessment

The FATF’s mutual evaluation process examines whether countries comply with international standards and how effectively their authorities tackle financial crime.

Assessors examine how authorities identify suspicious transactions, investigate offences, prosecute offenders and recover criminal proceeds. Countries must provide evidence that their systems are working, rather than rely only on legislation and the existence of regulatory agencies.

Giwa Sechap, director of evaluations and compliance at the GIABA Secretariat, represented the organisation’s director-general at the training. He said countries needed to demonstrate that their anti-money laundering systems were producing results.

“Mutual evaluation is a collective national responsibility. Beyond technical compliance, countries must demonstrate that their systems are delivering results,” he said.

Shehu Abdullahi, SecFIN Africa’s country representative, stated that institutions also needed to share reliable information and work together to prepare for the assessment.

GIABA is facilitating the training, while SecFIN Africa is providing support at Nigeria’s request. The programme runs from 12 to 16 October and brings together members of the country’s Mutual Evaluation Working Groups.

More than 20 agencies involved

Officials from more than 20 government institutions are taking part in the exercise, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the State Security Service (SSS), the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

Other participating agencies include the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the National Insurance Commission (NIC) and the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS).

The sessions will cover financial intelligence, regulatory supervision, suspicious transaction reporting, virtual assets, beneficial ownership, investigations and prosecutions, asset recovery, international cooperation and targeted financial sanctions.

Participants will also take part in simulated assessment interviews and practical exercises designed to prepare them to answer questions and provide supporting evidence.

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Nigeria expands pool of experts

The NFIU said Nigeria had increased its pool of experts accredited in FATF standards from fewer than 10 to 25 over the past two years.

It plans to train another 100 to 150 participants every quarter, with a possible extension of the programme to the private sector.

The agency stated that the training builds on a national review coordinated through the Inter-Ministerial Committee, with contributions from the EFCC, SSS, ICPC, CBN, the NIC and the SEC.

The review examines progress in implementing anti-money laundering measures and identifies areas where further action is needed.

In a follow-up report published in November 2024, the FATF said four of Nigeria’s recommendations had been upgraded from partially compliant to largely compliant. The areas included beneficial ownership transparency, the regulation of designated non-financial businesses and professions, and cash couriers.

The upgrades brought the number of recommendations rated compliant or largely compliant to 36, according to the report.