The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi,
has declared that the Federal Ministry of Justice is committed to ensuring that Nigeria does not just scrape through its 2027 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Mutual Evaluation, but excels in it.
He spoke on Thursday at the Federal Ministry of Justice’s AML/CFT/CPF Stocktake Exercise in Abuja, an event convened to assess the country’s readiness ahead of the evaluation.
The AGF said Nigeria’s earlier exit from the FATF grey list was “not an accident” but the result of institutional discipline and collaboration, describing it as a milestone rather than a final destination.
He challenged participating agencies to move beyond paper compliance, posing a series of questions he said would determine Nigeria’s international standing: whether the country can detect illicit financial flows, recover stolen assets, prosecute offenders, dismantle criminal enterprises and cooperate effectively with international partners.
He stressed that no single agency — neither the Ministry of Justice, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), law enforcement nor regulators — could deliver a successful evaluation alone, calling instead for genuine collaboration, mutual trust and accountability among institutions.
Fagbemi urged officers at the exercise to approach it with openness and professionalism, describing the stocktake not as an audit meant to expose weaknesses, but as a chance to correct deficiencies ahead of the FATF review.
In her remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of the NFIU, Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, said the effectiveness of Nigeria’s anti-money laundering framework ultimately depends on the people and institutions entrusted with enforcing it, rather than on legislation alone.
She credited the Ministry of Justice with providing the legal foundation for the country’s AML/CFT regime, citing its role in legislative reform, mutual legal assistance, asset recovery and international cooperation.
Bakari said financial intelligence alone was insufficient unless it translated into investigations, prosecutions and, ultimately, public confidence in the justice system. She commended the ministry’s leadership in driving reforms that have strengthened Nigeria’s standing within the global AML/CFT community and said its role would remain central as the country prepares for the 2027 review.
The stocktake exercise was organised by the NFIU to evaluate Nigeria’s institutional readiness ahead of the Mutual Evaluation.
(The Sun)
