The United Kingdom and Nigeria have strengthened their strategic cooperation to combat illicit financial activities through improved intelligence sharing, public-private partnerships and cross-border collaboration.
The renewed commitment followed high-level engagements between Nigerian officials and their UK counterparts in the United Kingdom, focusing on financial intelligence, money laundering, fraud, terrorism financing and emerging threats to the global financial system.
The Nigerian delegation was led by the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Hafsat Bakari, and comprised representatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), as well as stakeholders from the banking and telecommunications sectors.
A major highlight of the visit was the engagement with the UK’s Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce (JMLIT), a public-private partnership that brings together law enforcement agencies, regulators and private-sector institutions to identify and respond to financial crimes.
The delegation also held working sessions with JMLIT and UK Finance, during which both countries exchanged expertise on financial intelligence, information sharing and collaborative strategies for tackling illicit financial activities.
The engagements are expected to support Nigeria’s efforts to establish the Joint Financial Intelligence Cooperation (JFIC), a Nigerian-led public-private partnership designed to strengthen cooperation between government institutions and private-sector stakeholders.
The proposed initiative, anchored on trust, effective governance and technology-enabled cooperation, seeks to improve the country’s capacity to detect and respond to money laundering, fraud, terrorism financing and other illicit financial activities.
During the visit, the delegation also met with senior officials of the National Crime Agency (NCA), UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and HM Treasury.
Discussions focused on operational cooperation, the UK’s Financial Action Task Force (FATF) presidency, trade-based money laundering, emerging illicit financial threats and opportunities for strengthening international collaboration.
Speaking on the engagements, the Deputy Director of the Illicit Finance and Anti-Corruption Department of the FCDO, Chris Chalmers, said the partnership reflected the longstanding commitment of both countries to addressing illicit financial flows.
He noted that illicit finance undermined economic prosperity and enabled the activities of transnational criminal networks.
“Engagements last week helped us consolidate our cooperation on a range of shared threats and global standards, including on public-private partnerships. The FCDO will continue to partner with Nigeria to operationalise the Joint Financial Intelligence Collaboration,” Chalmers said.
Similarly, Bakari said the increasingly interconnected and transnational nature of illicit financial networks made international cooperation essential to tackling financial crimes.
She explained that Nigeria was strengthening its financial intelligence architecture through initiatives such as JFIC, which would enable public institutions and private-sector partners to work more effectively together.
“Our partnership with the United Kingdom provides valuable opportunities to exchange expertise and develop practical solutions that reflect Nigeria’s priorities, strengthen our financial system and translate intelligence into measurable impact,” she said.
Also speaking, the NCA’s NECC Fraud Threat Lead, Marc Brown, said the partnership between the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) and NFIU demonstrated the shared commitment of both countries to protecting economic prosperity through stronger responses to financial crime.
Brown said the NCA would continue supporting Nigeria’s efforts to develop its public-private partnership through the JFIC initiative.
He added that sustained collaboration would enhance intelligence sharing, improve operational effectiveness and strengthen the capacity of both countries to prevent and disrupt financial criminal networks.
The UK and Nigeria reaffirmed their commitment to deepening cooperation against illicit finance, strengthening intelligence-sharing mechanisms and protecting the integrity of their financial systems through effective public-private partnerships.
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