NFIU Increases Efforts to Remove Nigeria from FATF Gray List

The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has stated that it is working towards removing the country from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “gray list.”

NFIU announced that the legislative body is working towards removing Nigeria from the FATF gray list. In February, the FATF announced that Nigeria remained one of the countries needing enhanced efforts to combat terrorist financing and money laundering.

NFIU’s chief executive officer (CEO), Modibbo Hamman Tukur, at a retreat for stakeholders from the public and private sectors in Abuja, stated that Nigeria is currently undergoing the implementation of its anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework to avoid being placed on the watchlist by the other relevant authorities.

Tukur stated that 15 items were jointly agreed upon for Nigeria’s action plan due to its meetings with FATF. He added, “This is a significant reduction from the 84 items identified as deficiencies in the country’s evaluation report published in August 2021. Stakeholder agencies involved in the country’s AML/CFT framework and representatives from the private sector met in May this year and agreed on a revised strategic roadmap to exit the gray list.”

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) president, Yakubu Maikyau, said the organisation would adhere to FATF standards. According to Roland Ottaru, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the NBA will cooperate with the NFIU to promote awareness of effective anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures among the legal profession.

Since the 2021 Mutual Evaluation, Nigeria has made significant progress in addressing all five recommendations and was re-rated based on that progress. The rating for Recommendations 3, 11, and 20 has been changed from partially compliant to fully compliant. In addition, Recommendation 7 has been changed from non-compliant to largely compliant, and for Recommendation 19, the rating has been changed from partially compliant to largely compliant. However, 26 Recommendations have been rated C/LC in Nigeria and will remain in enhanced follow-up.

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