Nigeria has started training 100 government officials for its upcoming international assessment on fighting money laundering, terrorist financing, and the financing of weapons proliferation.
In a statement to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) said the five-day training began in Abuja on Monday. The training will prepare the officials for a mock evaluation set for November.
This training comes almost a year after Nigeria was taken off the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list. This happened after Nigeria worked to fix problems in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing system.
Hafsat Bakari, the Chief Executive Officer of NFIU, spoke at the training's opening. She emphasized that Nigeria must show that its laws and policies work in real life.
"Nigeria must be ready to not only explain its laws, policies, and institutional arrangements but also to demonstrate the results they deliver," she said.
The FATF removed Nigeria from its list of countries under increased monitoring on 24 October 2025. This came after Nigeria finished an action plan to fix the problems found.
The FATF also urged Nigeria to keep working with the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) to maintain its progress.
Preparing for the assessment
The FATF’s mutual evaluation process looks at how well countries follow international standards and how their authorities deal with financial crime.
Assessors check how authorities spot suspicious transactions, investigate crimes, prosecute criminals, and recover money gained from crime. Countries need to show evidence that their systems work, not just rely on laws and regulatory bodies.
Giwa Sechap, the director of evaluations and compliance at the GIABA Secretariat, represented the organization's director-general at the training. He stated countries must show that their anti-money laundering systems produce results.
"Mutual evaluation is a collective national responsibility. Beyond technical compliance, countries must demonstrate that their systems are delivering results," he said.
Shehu Abdullahi, SecFIN Africa’s country representative, added that institutions must share reliable information and work together for the assessment.
GIABA is in charge of the training, while SecFIN Africa is offering support at Nigeria’s request. The program runs from 12 to 16 October and gathers members of Nigeria’s Mutual Evaluation Working Groups.
More than 20 agencies involved
Officials from over 20 government institutions are involved in the training. These include the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the State Security Service (SSS), the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
Other agencies taking part are the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the National Insurance Commission (NIC), and the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS).
The training sessions will cover topics like financial intelligence, regulatory supervision, suspicious transaction reporting, virtual assets, beneficial ownership, investigations and prosecutions, asset recovery, international cooperation, and financial sanctions.
Participants will also engage in simulated assessment interviews and hands-on exercises to help them answer questions and provide supporting evidence.
Nigeria expands pool of experts
The NFIU mentioned that Nigeria has increased its number of experts accredited in FATF standards from fewer than 10 to 25 in the last two years.
The plan is to train another 100 to 150 participants every quarter, and there is a possibility of extending the program to the private sector.
The agency explained that this training builds on a national review managed by the Inter-Ministerial Committee. This review includes input from the EFCC, SSS, ICPC, CBN, NIC, and SEC.
The review checks Nigeria's progress in applying anti-money laundering measures and finds areas needing more action.
In a follow-up report published in November 2024, the FATF said four of Nigeria’s recommendations improved from partially compliant to largely compliant. These areas included beneficial ownership transparency, regulation of designated non-financial businesses and professions, and cash couriers.
The upgrades raised the number of recommendations rated compliant or largely compliant to 36, according to the report.
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