- The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) have devised new strategies to address the country's exit from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.
- The plans came about as a result of a recent visit between Ola Olukoyede, Executive Chairman of the EFCC, and Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, Director and CEO of the NFIU, during which the FATF challenge was one of the main subjects covered.
- This news comes as Nigeria is expected to submit action plans by May 2025 to get off the grey list or face the "black list."
During the visit, Olukoyede assured that the EFCC is committed to removing the country from the FATF's grey list, and that the EFCC is not just working to satisfy the international community, but also to promote the country's growth and development.
“Foreign interests alone must not drive us to do what is right but the interest of our country. We should always do what is right at all times, not just to satisfy any foreign interests but because right is right. Let’s carry out the action plan to grow our economy,” Olukoyede said.
The FATF publicly identifies jurisdictions with inadequate measures to combat crimes such as money laundering and terrorist financing. As of February 2024, 106 countries and jurisdictions have been identified out of 131 countries, of which 82 have met the requirements and removed from the process.
In February 2023, FATF added Nigeria to its list of countries under increased monitoring, referred to as the “Grey List.” However, Nigeria is required to come up with an action comprising 19 items before Q2 2025.
The Central Bank of Nigeria recently issued guidelines for the country's Bureau de Change (BDC) operators to align BDC activities more closely with global Anti-Money Laundering/Combating Terrorism (AML/CFT) standards.
Meanwhile, Nigeria is not the only African country under FATF’s increased monitoring list; Mali, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mozambique, South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania, and Kenya are on the list.
Kenya announced in February 2024 that it is considering enacting new cryptocurrency trading laws to address money laundering and terrorism financing concerns and improve its standing with the FATF.
At the time, a sectoral working group was developing a policy document for the legislative framework. However, later that month, the FATF announced that Kenya and Namibia were subject to increased monitoring.
