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By Sumaila Ogbaje<\/p>\n
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Abuja<\/p>\n
The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has intensified the use of financial intelligence to disrupt terrorism financing, money laundering and organised criminal networks.<\/p>\n
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The Head of Strategic Communications at the NFIU, Aishatu Bantam, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja at a joint security news conference, organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser.<\/p>\n
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Bantam said the unit was increasingly tracing the financial footprints of terrorists, kidnappers, drug traffickers, cybercriminals and other organised criminal groups.<\/p>\n
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She said the strategy was designed to complement conventional security operations by identifying financiers, facilitators, beneficiaries and criminal assets.<\/p>\n
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According to her, financial intelligence remain critical to dismantling criminal networks because their operations ultimately depend on access to and movement of illicit funds.<\/p>\n
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Bantam said the NFIU had strengthened collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force and other security and law-enforcement agencies to ensure that complex cases involving terrorism financing and illicit financial flows received specialised financial investigation.<\/p>\n
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She said the unit had also deepened cooperation with regulatory and law-enforcement institutions to identify suspicious transactions and vulnerabilities within Nigeria\u2019s financial system.<\/p>\n
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Bantam said the NFIU\u2019s 2025 analysis showed the scale of financial intelligence available to investigators, with reporting entities submitting more than 41.7 million Currency Transaction Reports.<\/p>\n
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She said 42,082 Suspicious Transaction Reports and 10,513 Suspicious Activity Reports were also submitted during the year.<\/p>\n
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According to her, tax crimes and fraud accounted for 51 per cent of intelligence reports disseminated across the top 10 designated offences.<\/p>\n
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Bantam said NFIU analysis had also identified emerging terrorism-financing methods involving proxy and mule accounts, pre-registered SIM cards, crowdfunding, social media and fragmented remittance transactions.<\/p>\n
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She said the findings had reinforced the need for stronger customer identification, sanctions screening and intelligence-led monitoring of financial activities.<\/p>\n
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The spokesperson said Nigeria\u2019s financial intelligence capability received international recognition when the NFIU and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) won the UNODC-World Bank-Egmont Group Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative Award.<\/p>\n
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She said the award recognised the successful collaboration between the two agencies in tracing and recovering illicit assets.<\/p>\n
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Bantam said the NFIU had also strengthened operational partnerships with the United Kingdom\u2019s National Crime Agency, the United States and other international partners.<\/p>\n
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She said the engagements focused on intelligence sharing, terrorism financing, transnational financial crimes, emerging criminal typologies and specialised capacity development.<\/p>\n
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She said the NFIU was also working with the Nigeria Police Force to strengthen the referral of cases requiring financial investigation, particularly terrorism, banditry and crude-oil theft.<\/p>\n
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Bantam said the unit\u2019s participation in the validation of Nigeria\u2019s updated National Risk Assessment had further strengthened the country\u2019s ability to identify and respond to emerging money-laundering and terrorism-financing threats.<\/p>\n
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She said the NFIU would continue to strengthen inter-agency cooperation and international partnerships to ensure that criminals could not hide the proceeds of their activities within Nigeria\u2019s financial system.<\/p>\n
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Bantam said the priority remained to \u201cidentify the money, expose the networks, disrupt the financing and support the recovery of criminal proceeds\u201d. (NAN)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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