Nigeria Launches Anti-Money Laundering Project

The Federal Government has initiated the implementation of the Counter-Proliferation Financing (CPF), Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Data Management Platform project.

Nigeria’s goal is to be taken off the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) Grey List by 2025.

In February 2023, the FATF Grey List was expanded to include Nigeria.

The implementation will be led by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), as President Bola Tinubu instructed.

As part of Nigeria’s commitment to fostering innovation and enhancing efficiency across critical sectors, the Director General of NITDA, @KashifuInuwa; the Chief Executive Officer, of Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Barrister Hafsat Bakari, met to discuss the proposed… pic.twitter.com/8N5hSbckvJ

— NITDA Nigeria (@NITDANigeria) January 17, 2025

In partnership with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), NITDA is anticipated to develop improved systems for managing financial data and compliance in Nigeria.

During the project implementation’s first meeting, NITDA Director-General Malam Kashifu Inuwa stated that the project will rectify the shortcomings noted in Nigeria’s Mutual Evaluation Report (MER).

According to Inuwa, FATF put Nigeria on the grey list due to seven problems, including the country’s incapacity to stop arms financing, growing cash inflows, and inadequacies in fighting money laundering.

“We had shortcomings in combating terrorism financing, anti-money laundering regime, counter-terrorism financing regime, and deficiency in our counter-proliferation financing regime.

“The main objective of building a better system is to help us with global compliance; to help Nigeria position itself as a key player in the global effort to combat financial terrorism and other crimes.

“This will help us to create visibility in Nigeria, as well as improve our global reputation and relationship in the financial market,” he said.

He claimed that by strengthening law enforcement, the economy, and investment, the project will enhance national security by enabling the tracking of illicit financial flows and the disruption of financial sector criminal networks.

Inuwa underlined Tinubu’s dedication to using innovation and technology to fight financial crime and corruption.

Nigeria deserves to be at the forefront of cutting-edge technologies, according to Rep. Stanley Adedeji, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on ICT and Cybersecurity, who emphasised the importance of technology.

Adedeji promised that the National Assembly would see to it that projects received the money they were due.

“We are going to make sure that the right funding is put in place for this project without any doubt.

“We are also going to make sure that if there are any laws today that are going to impede or be a stumbling block to what this project stands to achieve, we have to go and amend those laws.

“If there are things that require executive orders so that we can quickly move forward, we will do whatever needs to be done,” he said.

Hajiya Hafsat Bakari, Director-General of NFIU, called for more collaboration among stakeholders to sustain the gains of exiting the grey list.

According to Bakari, the grey list is not just a one-off project but a continuous project.

“The next cycle of evaluation will be done in 2027, and we do not want a situation where, after exiting the grey list, we still find ourselves in the next evaluation.

“This is why we have decided that the use of technology will give credibility to every statistic that we have, not just to our domestic stakeholders but also to our international partners.

“Everything should be done in real-time—accessible, credible, and factual; that is the project that we are doing today,” she said.

 

 

NAN