NFIU moves to strengthen public-private financial intelligence sharing
The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit has commenced plans to establish a Joint Financial Intelligence Collaboration framework to strengthen the sharing of financial intelligence between public and private sector institutions.
The proposed framework is expected to deepen cooperation among regulators, banks, insurance companies, fintech firms, Virtual Asset Service Providers, technology companies and other stakeholders in detecting emerging financial threats and disrupting illicit financial networks.
The NFIU disclosed this in a statement on Thursday following a high-level stakeholder engagement organised by the unit with the support of the British High Commission in Nigeria and the Convention for Business Integrity.
The initiative is designed to establish a trusted platform through which public and private institutions can exchange relevant intelligence more effectively, identify financial risks early and strengthen the resilience of Nigeria’s financial system.
Representing the NFIU Chief Executive Officer, Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, the unit’s General Counsel, Felix Obiamalu, said the engagement represented a transition from discussions about the initiative to the design and implementation of the proposed framework.
Obiamalu said, “We have moved from dialogue to design, to commitment and implementation.”
He said stakeholders would jointly determine how the collaboration would operate, the value it would create and mechanisms for sustaining it over time.
“The objective is no longer simply to discuss the concept. It is to jointly determine what this partnership should look like, how it should operate, what value it should create and how it can be sustained over time,” he added.
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The proposed Joint Financial Intelligence Collaboration is expected to provide a structured platform for public and private sector institutions to share intelligence and strengthen Nigeria’s response to increasingly sophisticated forms of financial crime.
Speaking on behalf of the British High Commission, the Illicit Financial Flows Officer at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Jehanzeb Khan, reaffirmed the importance of stronger public-private partnerships in combating illicit financial flows.
The Managing Director of the Convention for Business Integrity, Olusoji Apampa, said the process was deliberately structured to give the private sector a central role in shaping the framework.
According to him, the approach would ensure that the framework reflected operational realities while promoting broad stakeholder ownership.
Delivering the keynote presentation, former Chair of the Egmont Group and former Director of South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Centre, Xolisile Khanyile, urged Nigeria to adopt a practical and phased approach to implementing the proposed framework.
Khanyile described private sector participation in the fight against financial crime as a national responsibility, stressing that trust, shared ownership and collaboration were essential to successful public-private partnerships.
“Given Nigeria’s importance within the global AML/CFT framework, this initiative is both timely and necessary,” she said.
The engagement ended with stakeholders expressing support for the proposed framework and committing to deeper collaboration to improve financial intelligence, strengthen threat detection and enhance Nigeria’s capacity to respond to illicit financial activities.
The NFIU said sustained cooperation between government and industry would be critical to the success of the initiative, particularly through intelligence sharing, early identification of emerging risks and the development of collective resilience against financial crimes.
