Nigeria prepares for global financial crime test in November, trains 100 experts

Nigeria has begun training 100 experts from key government institutions ahead of its third-round international assessment of the country’s anti-money laundering, counter-financing of terrorism and counter-proliferation financing measures.

The five-day capacity-building programme, organised by the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), with support from SecFIN Africa, is holding in Abuja from October 12 to 16, ahead of a national mock mutual evaluation exercise scheduled for November.

The assessment will examine Nigeria’s compliance with international standards for combating financial crimes and the effectiveness of its institutions in implementing measures to prevent money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing.

The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) said the preparation was aimed at ensuring that the country could demonstrate measurable results from its laws, policies and institutional frameworks.

Nigeria exited the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Grey List in October 2025.

Speaking at the opening of the training, the Chief Executive Officer of the NFIU, Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, said the forthcoming assessment would require more than evidence of laws and regulations, stressing the need to demonstrate their practical impact.
“Nigeria must be ready to not only explain its laws, policies and institutional arrangements, but also to demonstrate the results they deliver,” Bakari said.

She said the training built on the country’s exit from the Grey List and formed part of efforts to strengthen the integrity of Nigeria’s financial system.

Representing the Director-General of GIABA, the organisation’s Director of Evaluations and Compliance, Giwa Sechap, said countries undergoing mutual evaluation must demonstrate that their anti-financial crime 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.

Sechap said the programme would improve coordination among participating institutions and equip them to provide credible evidence of Nigeria’s implementation of international standards.

SecFIN Africa’s Country Representative, Shehu Abdullahi, said effective preparation required institutions to share reliable information and take collective responsibility for national priorities.

He said the training would help Nigeria identify outstanding gaps, consolidate progress and demonstrate the effectiveness of its financial integrity framework.

The 100 participants are drawn from agencies responsible for financial intelligence, regulation, law enforcement, prosecution, asset recovery, border control, revenue administration and national security.

The participating institutions include the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Revenue Service, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the NFIU.

Others are the Federal Ministry of Justice, Bureau of Public Procurement, Corporate Affairs Commission, Code of Conduct Bureau, Defence Intelligence Agency, National Counter Terrorism Centre, National Insurance Commission and Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering, among other agencies.

The training will cover financial intelligence, regulatory supervision, virtual assets, beneficial ownership transparency, investigations and prosecutions, asset confiscation, international cooperation, targeted financial sanctions and proliferation financing risks.

Participants will also take part in practical exercises and simulated assessment interviews to prepare them to respond to evaluators with accurate information and verifiable evidence.

The programme follows a national stocktake and gap analysis coordinated by the NFIU through the Inter-Ministerial Committee, with support from the EFCC, DSS, ICPC, CBN, National Insurance Commission and SEC.

The exercise assesses the implementation of Nigeria’s anti-money laundering, counter-financing of terrorism and counter-proliferation financing framework, identifies outstanding gaps and establishes priorities for corrective action ahead of the international assessment.

Bakari said the objective was to translate collaboration among government institutions into measurable improvements in the detection and disruption of financial crimes.

“The real value of this exercise lies in the improvements it helps us deliver,” she said.

According to the NFIU, Nigeria has increased its pool of accredited global experts on FATF standards from fewer than 10 to 25 over the past two years.

The current programme is part of a wider capacity-building plan that envisages quarterly training for additional groups of 100 to 150 participants, with possible future expansion to private-sector institutions.

The November mock evaluation is expected to test the country’s preparedness, identify remaining deficiencies and guide further corrective action ahead of the formal third-round mutual evaluation.