The federal government has said it would take all necessary steps to remove Nigeria from the grey list of the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF), before the May 2025 deadline.
The Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, gave the assurance during a fact-finding visit to the office of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) in Abuja on Tuesday.
The grey list, also known as the “Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring” list, is a list of countries that the FATF says have a higher risk of money laundering and terrorism financing.
Gbajabiamila pledged that the Federal Government would address the deficiencies that led to Nigeria’s listing.
He pledged in response to a request by Hafsat Bakari, the Director and Chief Executive Officer of NFIU, who sought high-level intervention to meet the implementation deadline of the FATF action plan.
Gbajabiamila acknowledged the progress made by NFIU by implementing 30% of the action plan to address identified deficiencies. He stressed the need for accelerated efforts to complete the remaining tasks.
“I am a firm believer that no matter how much you achieve, one thing can destroy everything you have achieved. One rotten egg can spoil the whole basket.
“We have nine months left to exit the Grey List, and even being on that list is bad enough – that is not what we want for our country. Therefore, we will do everything we need to do because May 2025 is around the corner.
“You must furnish us with the information and the boxes that we need to tick. We do not want a fire brigade approach because May is around the corner; this is a high priority,” he said.
Gbajabiamila also assured the management of NFIU of continued collaboration with his office to enable it to protect Nigeria’s financial system from terrorism financing, money laundering, arms proliferation and other violent crimes.
The NFIU operates under the supervision of the State House. The Chief of Staff also commended the agency for implementing the recent Supreme Court interpretation of local government autonomy.
On Feb. 24, 2023, Nigeria was placed on the FATF Grey List. This was due to rising capital inflows and shortcomings in combating money laundering, terrorism and arms financing.