The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) is the

financial intelligence unit A financial intelligence unit (FIU) is a national agency responsible for receiving, analyzing, and disseminating financial information on suspicious or unusual financial activity from the financial industry and other entities or professions req ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, responsible for collecting and analyzing disclosures from reporting organizations, in order to produce financial intelligence to other agencies combating

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

terrorism financing Terrorism financing is the provision of funds or providing financial support to individual terrorists or non-state actors. Most countries have implemented measures to counter terrorism financing (CTF) often as part of their money laundering law ...

, and other

financial crime Financial crime is crime committed against property, involving the unlawful conversion of the ownership of property (belonging to one person) to one's own personal use and benefit. Financial crimes may involve fraud (cheque fraud, credit card f ...

s. The agency serves as the secretariat of the National Sanctions Committee (NSC) and the Inter-ministerial Committee on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (IMC). The NFIU is one of the leading FIUs in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. The headquarters of the NFIU is located in close proximity to the

Aso Villa The Aso Rock Villa (officially Aso Rock Presidential Villa) is the workplace and official residence of the President of Nigeria since 1991, when Nigeria moved its capital from Lagos to Abuja. It is located at Yakubu Gowon Crescent, Asokoro, Asokor ...

demonstrating its pivotal role in supporting the Office of the President to gather financial intelligence.

History

The NFIU was established in 2004 as an autonomous unit within the central coordinating body for the country's Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Terrorist Financing, and Counter-Proliferation Financing (AML/CFT/CPF) framework of

Central Bank of Nigeria The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is the central bank and apex monetary authority of Nigeria established by the CBN Act of 1958 and commenced operations on 1 July 1959. The major regulatory objectives of the bank as stated in the CBN Act are t ...

. It also operates as part of

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is a Nigerian law enforcement and anti-graft agency that investigates financial crimes and unknown transactions such as advance fee fraud (419 fraud) and money laundering. The EFCC was establ ...

. In 2007, the NFIU joined the

Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units The Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units is an international organization that facilitates cooperation and intelligence sharing between national financial intelligence units (FIUs) to investigate and prevent money laundering and terror ...

, an international organization that facilitates cooperation and intelligence sharing between national financial intelligence units to investigate and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. In the first quarter of 2022, about N150 trillion worth of transactions in Nigeria were reported as “suspicious” by the NFIU. In January 2023, NFIU issued a ban on the federal, state, and local governments from making cash withdrawals from their own accounts. According to the NFIU, this was implemented as a measure to curb financial abuses of government funds as state governments had withdrawn a total of N701 billion cash from 2015 till January 2023. This was criticized by the Nigerian Governors Forum which stated that the NFIU advisory and guidelines on cash transactions were outside the agency's mandate.

References

{{Authority control 2004 establishments in Nigeria Nigerian intelligence agencies Organizations based in Lagos Finance in Nigeria Anti-money laundering organizations Law enforcement in Nigeria