From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has applauded Nigeria’s efforts to exit the grey-listing of the country by the global financial watch dog.
The FATF had in February placed Nigeria on its grey-list and expected the country to make significant improvements in 15 areas.
It had added Nigeria and South Africa to its “grey-list” of countries that need to intensify efforts to tackle money laundering and terrorism financing. The grey-list is a warning to investors and the international community that the country’s lax AML/CFT legislation may permit money laundering and terrorism.
Nigeria was suspended by FATF over failure to scale a review of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risk conducted by the global financial intelligence agency.
In a statement issued by Head of Media, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Sani Tukur, Nigeria’s efforts were praised when FATF officials at a meeting between Nigerian delegation to the plenary meeting of the group in Paris, France with officials of the FATF and the United States of America.
According to a statement, during the 40th GIABA Technical Commission and Plenary Meetings recently in Abuja, Nigeria’s progress was reported and commended by the Vice-President of the FATF. Jeremy Weil, who attended the meeting.
Tukur noted that at the conclusion of the Plenary, Nigeria’s 2nd progress report was adopted including approval of upgrades against six of the FATF criteria, saying: “the country is now compliant or largely compliant with 32 of the 40 FATF Recommendations demonstrating the continued commitment of the country to improving its Anti Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) framework.”
The Director/CEO of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Modibbo Tukur, had said that based on the efforts made by all bodies in Nigeria involved in the efforts to tackle the identified areas, the country was able to tackle 13 out of the 15 action points identified.
“In the FATF process, once a country is grey-listed, it is given an Action Plan which details the actions it is expected to take within agreed timelines in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime, and, therefore, exit the grey-list.
“Nigeria was placed on the grey-list in February 2023 and was given a 15-item Action Plan with deadlines spanning up till May 2025. The inclusion of countries in the list is predicated on an agreement that the country has engaged with the FATF, has taken steps to improve the effectiveness of its AML/CFT systems and has expressed political commitment at the highest levels to sustaining this progress.
“Also, countries under the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) grey-list are expected to report on progress achieved in the implementation of the action items every four months, at the FATF plenary meetings.
“Therefore, no country is expected to evidence complete implementation of all its action items within the first progress report. In fact, the average timeframe of countries’ exit out of the FATF grey-list is two (2) years. For example, Barbados, Jamaica & Uganda have been under the process since February 2020. Many other jurisdictions have remained on the grey-list since 2021. They are not failing the FATF review, they are only expected to sustain progress and implement action items before agreed timelines.
“The NFIU would like to reiterate that contrary to some insinuation Nigeria has not fallen behind any of the timelines given by the FATF. In fact, out of the fifteen (15) action items on Nigeria’s Action Plan, thirteen (13) of them have already been assessed as Partly Addressed. It is worthy to note that under the FATF grey-list, the global watchdog is interested only on progress that can be sustained over time. It is therefore impossible to “meet” the FATF’s ‘recommendations’ within eight months,” the statement read.
The statement also noted that in the same vein and under a separate process coordinated by the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering (GIABA), Nigeria’s framework for criminalising money laundering and terrorist financing has been rerated to be Compliant and Largely Compliant, respectively.
On the whole, it is gladdening to note that Nigeria has not been faulted by the FATF, and the country has not failed to scale any reviews by the FATF. All relevant authorities are working earnestly to fully implement Nigeria’s 15 action items before the timelines elapse.