NFIU rallies private sector for stronger financial intelligence network

By Jane Okeke

The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, has rallied banks, fintechs, insurers and other private-sector players to strengthen collaboration in detecting and disrupting illicit financial activities in Nigeria.

The call was made in Abuja during a high-level stakeholder engagement organised with the support of the British High Commission, Nigeria, and the Convention for Business Integrity, CBi, to co-design the proposed Joint Financial Intelligence Collaboration, JFIC.

Representing the NFIU Chief Executive Officer, Hajia Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, the Unit’s General Counsel, Mr Felix Obiamalu, said the initiative had moved beyond discussions into the design and implementation stage.

He said the objective was to jointly determine how the partnership would operate, the value it would deliver and how it could be sustained over time.

The engagement brought together regulators, banks, insurance companies, fintechs, Virtual Asset Service Providers, technology firms and other key stakeholders in the financial sector.

Speaking for the British High Commission, the Illicit Financial Flows Officer at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, FCDO, Mr Jehanzeb Khan, stressed the importance of stronger public-private collaboration in tackling illicit financial flows.

Also speaking, the Managing Director of the Convention for Business Integrity, Mr Olusoji Apampa, said the process was designed to place the private sector at the centre of decision-making, ensuring that the proposed framework reflects operational realities and enjoys broad stakeholder ownership.

Delivering the keynote, former Chair of the Egmont Group and former Director of South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Centre, Ms Xolisile Khanyile, urged Nigeria to adopt a practical and phased approach to implementing the initiative, stressing that trust, shared ownership and collaboration remain critical to successful public-private partnerships.

The engagement ended with broad stakeholder support for the proposed JFIC, with participants committing to a stronger intelligence-sharing framework aimed at improving early threat detection, disrupting illicit financial networks and building greater resilience against increasingly sophisticated financial crimes.

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