Nigeria’s Effort Towards Exiting the Greylist Applauded
By Patience Ikpeme
Nigeria effort towards exiting the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list has been applauded, this shows that the country is making efforts and commitments in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
This development is coming right after the time the country implemented key reforms and addressed 13 out of 15 action points outlined by the FATF.
The Vice-President of the FATF Jeremy Weil disclosed this during the 40th Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering (GIABA) Technical Commission and Plenary Meetings which held in Abuja recently, who attended the meeting.
Nigeria was placed on the grey list in February 2023 by FATF and its expected that the country should make significant improvements in 15 areas.
The Director/CEO of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Modibbo Hamman Tukur stated 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 greylist.
Nigeria was placed on the greylist in February 2023 and was given a 15-item Action Plan with deadlines spanning up till May 2025.
It is important to note that the average timeframe of countries’ exit out of the FATF greylist is two (2) years. For example, Barbados, Jamaica & Uganda have been under the process since February 2020. Many other jurisdictions have remained on the greylist since 2021. They are not failing the FATF review, they are only expected to sustain progress and implement action items before agreed timelines.
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) greylist 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.
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 greylist, 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.
In the same vein and under a separate process coordinated by the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering (GIABA), Nigeria’s framework for criminalizing money laundering and terrorist financing has been rerated to be Compliant and Largely Compliant respectively.
Sani Tukur, Head of Media at the NFIU said, 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.
