The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) have commenced a three-day stocktake to assess Nigeria’s preparedness for the 2027 Mutual Evaluation Exercise of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing….
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) have commenced a three-day stocktake to assess Nigeria’s preparedness for the 2027 Mutual Evaluation Exercise of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing.
The exercise began on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja and will continue on Wednesday, September 30, and October 2.
It brings together officials from both agencies and other relevant stakeholders to review progress, identify gaps and strengthen inter-agency cooperation ahead of the assessment.
In his opening remarks, EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede, represented by the Secretary to the Commission, Muhammad Hassan Hammajoda, said the stocktake demonstrated Nigeria’s commitment to meeting international standards on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing.
“This event is a demonstration of our shared commitment to achieving full compliance with the anti-money laundering thresholds, stipulated by the FATF, in strengthening Nigeria’s Anti-Money Laundering, Countering the Financing of Terrorism/Counter Proliferation Financing Framework.”
Nigeria was placed under FATF enhanced monitoring, commonly known as the Grey List, in 2022 over deficiencies in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework.
The country was subsequently removed from the list on October 24, 2025, after implementing measures to address identified deficiencies.
Olukoyede warned against any reversal of the progress made, saying all stakeholders must work to prevent Nigeria from returning to the Grey List.
“It is unimaginable that Nigeria returns to the Grey List. Issues for consideration today include use of financial intelligence, asset tracing, recovery and management, money laundering, investigation and prosecution.”
He said the stocktake would allow Nigeria to demonstrate the progress recorded since its removal from the Grey List and consolidate the gains ahead of the 2027 evaluation.
Also speaking, NFIU Chief Executive Officer Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Law Enforcement Agencies, Emmanuel Sotande, said the exercise was aimed at strengthening the collective response of both institutions to financial crimes.
Bakari said the stocktake was not being held because of a crisis but to identify areas requiring improvement ahead of the evaluation.
“We gathered here not because there is a problem to solve, but because there is a standard to uphold.”
She said the 2027 assessment would examine not only Nigeria’s laws and institutional frameworks but also evidence of their effective implementation.
“The reality is that international assessors will not only look at our laws, frameworks and structure, they will look at the evidence that we are able to put in place to produce desirable outcomes.”
Bakari said assessors would examine areas including effective investigations, successful prosecutions, asset recovery, inter-agency collaboration and the use of financial intelligence.
In his presentation, the NFIU Chief of Staff, Mohammed Shahid Ahmed, said Nigeria’s 2019 Mutual Evaluation, published in 2021, identified deficiencies that contributed to the country’s placement on the Grey List.
He said subsequent reforms focused on financial investigations, identification and recovery of proceeds of crime, international cooperation and cross-border currency declaration, contributing to Nigeria’s removal from the list in 2025.
Ahmed, however, said Nigeria had limited time to consolidate those gains, as preparations for the next Mutual Evaluation began less than a year after the country’s removal from the Grey List.
He said the 2027 assessment would focus not only on technical compliance with FATF standards but also on effectiveness, including the use of financial intelligence, risk-based investigations and evidence that enforcement actions are producing measurable results.
