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From the Editorial Desk, NNH News Corp
Abuja | October 24, 2025
Nigeria’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) “grey list” marks a major victory for the nation’s ongoing fight against money laundering, terrorism financing, and illicit financial flows. This milestone affirms Nigeria’s full compliance with international anti-financial crime standards and restores confidence among global investors and financial institutions.
The achievement is a product of institutional synergy between the Executive, Legislature, and Regulatory Agencies, with the National Assembly providing the legislative backbone through the passage of key reform laws that strengthened the nation’s anti-corruption and financial integrity framework.
Among the landmark legislations that paved the way for this recognition are:
• Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act, 2022 (POCA)
• Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022
• Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 (TPA)
• And the retention of the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML) within the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) — ensuring operational coherence and accountability.
Equally instrumental to Nigeria’s delisting was the strategic role of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), whose coordination of national compliance efforts, data integrity systems, and inter-agency reporting mechanisms provided the FATF with verifiable evidence of Nigeria’s improved framework against financial crimes.
In a statement, Ashley Emenike, who played a pivotal role in these legislative reforms in his capacity as Advisor to the then Chairman, Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, and as the Country Executive Secretary of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC) Nigeria Chapter, hailed the FATF decision as “a vindication of Nigeria’s institutional reforms and the National Assembly’s strategic leadership.”
“This is not just a win for Nigeria; it’s a testament to what can be achieved through legislative diligence and institutional collaboration,” Emenike said. “Our country worked tirelessly to close compliance gaps, harmonize oversight functions, and ensure that anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws met global standards. Nigeria’s fully compliant status is both a reflection of that effort and a springboard for renewed investor confidence.”
The Paris-based FATF confirmed that Nigeria, alongside South Africa, Mozambique, and Burkina Faso, has been removed from the list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring after demonstrating tangible progress in anti-financial crime governance.
This development is expected to:
• Boost foreign direct investment (FDI)
• Facilitate remittance inflows
• Ease cross-border financial transactions
• Lower sovereign borrowing costs, and
• Reinforce Nigeria’s international credibility in financial governance.
Issued by:
NNH News Corp — Abuja Bureau
From the Editorial Desk
