Nigeria has made significant strides towards exiting the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list, indicating improved efforts in combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing.
According to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Nigeria has completed 30% of the action plan developed to address deficiencies identified during the greylisting process.
This progress was well-received by the FATF during its June 2024 plenary meeting in Singapore, where Nigeria’s third Progress Report was approved.
The FATF acknowledged Nigeria’s efforts by granting two upgrades, signalling that Nigeria is on track to potentially exit the grey list by early 2025, meeting its initial target.
Ms Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, the CEO of NFIU and Chair of the Technical Commission of GIABA, represented Nigeria at the plenary meeting.
She reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to fully implementing the Action Plan and provided updates on GIABA’s efforts to enhance technical capacities in combating financial crimes.
The FATF grey list serves as a monitoring tool for countries with significant deficiencies in their Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) frameworks.
Being on this list obliges countries to address these deficiencies within a specified timeframe.
The Nigerian delegation to the plenary also included the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Director of the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML) and the Chief of Staff to the CEO of the NFIU.
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