Nigeria has begun training 100 experts drawn from key government institutions to strengthen the country’s preparedness for its next international assessment of efforts to combat money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing.
The five-day training, organised by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) in collaboration with the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), with support from SecFIN Africa, is taking place in Abuja from October 12 to 16, 2026.
The programme is aimed at preparing members of Nigeria’s Mutual Evaluation Working Groups (MEWG) for the country’s forthcoming third-round Mutual Evaluation, as well as a national mock assessment scheduled for November 2026.
The assessment will examine Nigeria’s compliance with international standards on anti-money laundering, counter-financing of terrorism and counter-proliferation financing (AML/CFT/CPF).
Speaking at the opening of the training, the Chief Executive Officer of the NFIU, Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, said Nigeria must demonstrate not only the strength of its laws and institutional frameworks but also their effectiveness 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.
Ms Bakari said the training builds on Nigeria’s successful exit from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Grey List in October 2025, describing the programme as part of the country’s continued efforts to strengthen the integrity of its financial system.
Representing the Director-General of GIABA, Giwa Siman Sechap, Director of Evaluations and Compliance at the organisation’s secretariat, said mutual evaluation was a collective national responsibility that required effective coordination and credible evidence of implementation.
He said countries undergoing the assessment must demonstrate that their systems were producing tangible results beyond mere compliance with technical requirements.
According to him, the training would strengthen participants’ knowledge, improve coordination among institutions and prepare them to provide a clear, evidence-based account of Nigeria’s efforts to combat financial crimes.
Professor Shehu Abdullahi, SecFIN Africa’s country representative, also stressed the need for sustained capacity development and collaboration among government institutions.
He said effective preparation required institutions to work together, exchange reliable information and take collective responsibility for national priorities.
Mr Abdullahi added that building the necessary capacity ahead of the assessment would help Nigeria identify gaps, consolidate existing progress and demonstrate the effectiveness of its financial integrity framework.
The training brings together representatives of several government agencies responsible for financial intelligence, law enforcement, regulation, investigations, prosecutions and national security.
Participating institutions include the Bureau of Public Procurement, Central Bank of Nigeria, Code of Conduct Bureau, Corporate Affairs Commission, Defence Intelligence Agency, Department of State Services and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Others are the Federal Ministry of Justice, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Mining Cadastral Office, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, National Counter Terrorism Centre and National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
The National Insurance Commission, NFIU, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Revenue Service and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps are also participating.
The list further includes the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority, Securities and Exchange Commission and Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering, among other relevant institutions.
The NFIU said the participating agencies would contribute expertise in financial intelligence, regulatory supervision, suspicious transaction reporting, criminal investigations, prosecutions, asset recovery, border control, beneficial ownership transparency, revenue enforcement and national security.
Their collaboration, it said, was essential to demonstrating that Nigeria’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing framework was delivering measurable results.
As part of efforts to strengthen the country’s expertise, Nigeria has increased the number of its globally accredited experts in FATF standards from fewer than 10 to 25 over the past two years.
The NFIU said the current programme was part of a broader capacity-building plan under which additional groups of 100 to 150 participants could be trained quarterly. The initiative may also be extended to private-sector stakeholders in the future.
The sessions will cover financial intelligence, regulatory supervision, virtual assets, beneficial ownership, investigations and prosecutions, asset confiscation, international cooperation, targeted financial sanctions and risks associated with proliferation financing.
Participants will also undertake practical exercises and simulated assessment interviews to prepare them to respond to questions from assessors with accurate information and verifiable evidence.
The programme builds on a national stocktake and gap analysis coordinated by the NFIU, with support from the EFCC, DSS, ICPC, CBN, NAICOM and SEC through the Inter-Ministerial Committee.
The exercise assesses the level of implementation of existing measures, identifies areas of strength and outstanding gaps, and establishes priorities for corrective action.
According to the NFIU, the process is designed to provide a common basis for strengthening Nigeria’s overall AML/CFT/CPF framework and ensure that preparations for the assessment reflect the responsibilities and contributions of the institutions involved.
Ms Bakari said the ultimate objective was to translate the collective efforts of the agencies into measurable improvements in the country’s ability to tackle financial crimes.
“The real value of this exercise lies in the improvements it helps us deliver. By bringing our institutions together around evidence, shared responsibilities and measurable results, we can build a stronger and more effective system for detecting and disrupting financial crime,” she said.
The NFIU said the initiative reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to inter-agency collaboration, stronger institutional capacity and demonstrable progress ahead of its next mutual evaluation.