By Chimezie Godfrey
The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has mobilised key private-sector stakeholders to co-design a new framework aimed at strengthening financial intelligence sharing and tackling emerging threats within Nigeria’s financial system.
The initiative, known as the Joint Financial Intelligence Collaboration (JFIC), was unveiled during a high-level stakeholder engagement in Abuja on Thursday, with regulators, banks, insurance companies, fintech firms, Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), technology companies and other stakeholders participating in the process.
The engagement was organised with the support of the British High Commission, Nigeria, and the Convention for Business Integrity (CBi).
Representing the Chief Executive Officer of the NFIU, Hajia Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, the Unit’s General Counsel, Mr Felix Obiamalu, said the engagement marked a decisive shift from discussions about the initiative to its actual design and implementation.
“We have moved from dialogue to design, to commitment and implementation,” Obiamalu said.
He explained that the focus was no longer merely on discussing the concept of the partnership but on jointly determining its structure, operations, value and sustainability.
“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 said.
According to him, the proposed collaboration is expected to provide a trusted platform for public and private institutions to work together more effectively in identifying emerging financial threats, disrupting illicit financial networks and strengthening the integrity of the country’s financial system.
Obiamalu said the participation of stakeholders across the financial and technology sectors was critical to ensuring that the proposed framework responds to real operational challenges and produces meaningful results.
Speaking on behalf of the British High Commission, Mr Jehanzeb Khan, Illicit Financial Flows Officer at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), reaffirmed the importance of stronger public-private collaboration in combating illicit financial flows.
Also speaking, the Managing Director of the Convention for Business Integrity, Mr Olusoji Apampa, said the process was deliberately designed to place the private sector at the centre of decision-making.
Apampa said the approach would help ensure that the emerging framework reflects operational realities and enjoys broad ownership among stakeholders.
Delivering the keynote presentation, former Chair of the Egmont Group and former Director of South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Centre, Ms Xolisile Khanyile, described private-sector participation in the initiative as a national responsibility.
Khanyile urged Nigeria to adopt a practical and phased approach to implementing the proposed partnership, stressing the importance of trust, shared ownership and collaboration.
“Trust, shared ownership and collaboration are the foundations of every successful public-private partnership,” she said.
Khanyile added that given Nigeria’s importance within the global anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework, the initiative was both timely and necessary.
The engagement ended with strong stakeholder support for the proposed JFIC framework and a shared commitment to advancing a partnership capable of improving financial intelligence, strengthening threat detection and enhancing Nigeria’s response to increasingly sophisticated forms of illicit financial activity.
Obiamalu said the initiative reflected the growing recognition that government institutions and private-sector organisations must work together to effectively respond to financial crimes.
He said sustained information sharing, early identification of risks and collective action would be essential to building a more resilient financial system capable of responding to emerging threats.