The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s Anti-Money Laundering, Countering the Financing of Terrorism and Counter-Proliferation Financing (AML/CFT/CPF) framework, stressing that beyond technical compliance, law enforcement agencies must demonstrate strong operational effectiveness in tackling illicit financial flows.
The Chairman of the ICPC, Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, SAN, stated this at the opening of a three-day Stocktake Exercise organised by the Commission in collaboration with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), in preparation for Nigeria’s 3rd Round Mutual Evaluation Exercise.
Dr. Aliyu, who was represented by the Secretary to the Commission, Mr. Clifford Okparaodu, DSSRS, described the exercise as being of “paramount national importance,” noting that it provides an opportunity for rigorous self-assessment, operational alignment and empirical review of Nigeria’s performance against global Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards.
According to him, the exercise will assess critical areas, including Nigeria’s understanding and coordination of money laundering and terrorism financing risks; international cooperation; the generation and utilisation of financial intelligence; money laundering investigations and prosecutions; as well as asset tracing, recovery and management.
The ICPC Chairman disclosed that the Commission has systematically embedded mandatory parallel financial investigations into corruption cases, routinely leveraged the Corporate Affairs Commission’s Beneficial Ownership Register to uncover corporate fronts, and strengthened its asset recovery and management systems.
“However, achieving technical compliance is only half the battle; demonstrating high operational effectiveness across these Immediate Outcomes is what ultimately safeguards our financial system,” he said.
Dr. Aliyu urged ICPC investigators, prosecutors and operational leads participating in the exercise to engage with candour, transparency and professional diligence, while welcoming the objective scrutiny of the country experts and assessors. He noted that their observations would help the Commission identify residual gaps, refine its statistical data and sharpen enforcement strategies ahead of the main Mutual Evaluation.
In her remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of the NFIU, Hajia Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, represented by Dr. Emmanuel Sotande, said the Stocktake Exercise was designed to determine how effectively the ICPC and other relevant agencies have utilised information and intelligence supplied by the NFIU in combating illicit financial flows and other corrupt practices.
“We want to be able to see how well the information and investigation lead to prosecution, seizure of assets and whether there’s a deterrent mechanism in place. This is not a witch-hunt exercise but to ensure that we prepare for the next evaluation, which is going to be taking place next year,” she said.
The NFIU CEO added that the exercise would enable relevant institutions to evaluate their systems and documentation before the arrival of international assessors, stressing the importance of inter-agency collaboration in ensuring that Nigeria sustains improvements in its AML/CFT/CPF regime and avoids a return to the FATF grey list following the next assessment.
The three-day exercise also reviewed the implementation of relevant legislation, including the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022 and the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act 2022, with particular attention to investigations, prosecutions, financial intelligence, international cooperation and asset recovery.