NFIU Plans New Framework to Boost Financial Intelligence Sharing

The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has commenced plans to establish a Joint Financial Intelligence Collaboration Framework aimed at strengthening the sharing of financial intelligence between public and private sector institutions.

The proposed framework is expected to create a trusted platform through which regulators, financial institutions, fintech companies, virtual asset service providers, technology firms and other stakeholders can collaborate more effectively in identifying emerging financial threats.

The initiative was discussed during a high-level stakeholder engagement organised by the NFIU with support from the British High Commission in Nigeria and the Convention for Business Integrity.

Representing the NFIU Chief Executive Officer, Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, the unit’s General Counsel, Felix Obiamalu, said the engagement marked a transition from discussions about the initiative to the design and implementation of the proposed framework.

He said stakeholders would jointly determine how the partnership should operate, the value it should create and how the collaboration could be sustained over time.

The proposed framework is expected to strengthen Nigeria’s ability to detect and respond to increasingly sophisticated forms of financial crime by improving the flow of relevant intelligence between government agencies and businesses.

Stakeholders are expected to work together to identify risks early, share useful information and develop coordinated responses capable of disrupting illicit financial networks.

Speaking on behalf of the British High Commission, Jehanzeb Khan, an Illicit Financial Flows Officer with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, stressed the importance of stronger public-private collaboration in tackling illicit financial flows.

The Managing Director of the Convention for Business Integrity, Olusoji Apampa, said the process was deliberately designed to place the private sector at the centre of decision-making.

He said this would help ensure that the emerging framework reflects operational realities and secures broad stakeholder ownership.

Delivering the keynote presentation, Xolisile Khanyile, former Chair of the Egmont Group and former Director of South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Centre, urged Nigeria to adopt a practical and phased approach to implementing the framework.

Khanyile described private-sector participation in combating financial crime as a national responsibility, stressing that trust, shared ownership and collaboration were essential to successful public-private partnerships.

The stakeholder engagement ended with broad support for the proposed framework and a commitment to advancing cooperation aimed at improving financial intelligence, strengthening threat detection and enhancing Nigeria’s capacity to respond to illicit financial activity.

The NFIU said sustained cooperation between government and industry would be essential to building collective resilience against financial crimes.