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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has moved to forge a new public-private partnership that will bring banks, fintechs, insurers, virtual asset providers and regulators together to tackle increasingly sophisticated financial crimes and illicit financial flows.
The initiative, known as the Joint Financial Intelligence Collaboration (JFIC), is designed to create a trusted platform for public and private institutions to share financial intelligence, detect emerging threats and disrupt illicit financial networks.
The NFIU unveiled the framework at a high-level stakeholder engagement in Abuja on Thursday, with support from the British High Commission and the Convention for Business Integrity (CBi).
Representatives of banks, insurance companies, fintechs, Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), technology firms, regulators and other stakeholders participated in the engagement, which was aimed at moving the proposed partnership from concept to implementation.
Representing the NFIU Chief Executive Officer, Hafsat Bakari, the Unit’s General Counsel, Felix Obiamalu, said the engagement marked a decisive turning point in the development of the initiative.
“We have moved from dialogue to design, to commitment and implementation,” Obiamalu said.
He stressed that the objective was no longer merely to discuss the concept, but to jointly determine the structure, operation and value of the partnership and how it could be sustained.
“The objective is no longer simply to discuss the concept. It is to jointly determine what this partnership should look like, how it should operate, what value it should create and how it can be sustained over time,” he said.
The NFIU said the initiative was premised on the recognition that no single institution could effectively combat modern financial crime in isolation, making intelligence sharing and coordinated action between government and industry increasingly critical.
Speaking on behalf of the British High Commission, Jehanzeb Khan, Illicit Financial Flows Officer at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), reaffirmed the importance of stronger collaboration between government and the private sector in combating illicit financial flows.
Managing Director of the Convention for Business Integrity, Olusoji Apampa, said the process was deliberately structured to place the private sector at the centre of decision-making.
According to him, this would ensure that the emerging framework reflects operational realities and secures broad ownership among stakeholders.
Delivering the keynote presentation, former Chair of the Egmont Group and former Director of South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Centre, Xolisile Khanyile, described private-sector participation in the fight against financial crime as a national responsibility.
She urged Nigeria to adopt a practical and phased approach to implementing the proposed collaboration.
“Trust, shared ownership and collaboration are the foundations of every successful public-private partnership,” Khanyile said.
She added that given Nigeria’s strategic importance within the global anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework, the initiative was both timely and necessary.
The engagement ended with strong stakeholder support for the proposed JFIC framework and a commitment to advancing a partnership capable of strengthening financial intelligence, improving threat detection and enhancing Nigeria’s response to increasingly sophisticated financial crimes.
