https://ua.news/en/world/nigeriia-rozpochala-pidgotovku-do-otsiniuvannia-fatf-u-2027-rotsi-premium-times-nigeria

Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) in Abuja have begun a three-day review of the country’s readiness for a mutual evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in 2027. Premium Times Nigeria reports.

Participants in the review are to assess Nigeria’s progress in combating money laundering and terrorist financing, identify potential gaps and strengthen cooperation between government bodies. According to EFCC Head of Media Dele Oyewale, officials from the two institutions and other stakeholders will be involved in the discussions. Meetings are also scheduled for September 30 and October 2.

Removal from the grey list

On October 24, 2025, FATF removed Nigeria from its grey list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring because of strategic deficiencies in their systems for combating money laundering and terrorist financing. The organization said at the time that the country had made significant progress, including in risk assessment, international cooperation, supervision, access to beneficial ownership information and the use of financial intelligence.

FATF also noted an increase in money-laundering investigations and prosecutions, improvements in detecting violations of currency declaration rules, asset recovery, and interagency cooperation in terrorist-financing cases.

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What the review will focus on

EFCC Chair Ola Olukoyede, represented by the commission’s Secretary Muhammad Hammajoda, said the review should demonstrate Nigeria’s commitment to international standards. The topics include the use of financial intelligence, asset tracing, recovery and management, as well as investigations and prosecutions in money-laundering cases.

NFIU Chief Executive Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, represented by Director of Operations for Law Enforcement Emmanuel Sotande, stressed that international assessors will examine not only laws and the institutional framework but also the practical effectiveness of their implementation. In particular, they will seek evidence of effective investigations, successful court cases, asset recovery, interagency cooperation and the use of intelligence to combat criminal activity.

NFIU Chief of Staff Mohammed Shahid Ahmed noted that Nigeria’s previous mutual evaluation in 2019, the report on which was published in 2021, identified shortcomings that contributed to the country being placed on the grey list. According to him, the next assessment will examine both technical compliance with FATF standards and the effectiveness of institutions.