The federal government has begun the implementation of the Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) and Counter-Proliferation Financing (CPF) Data Management Platform project.

The project aims to remove Nigeria from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Grey List by 2025. Nigeria was included in the FATF Grey List in February 2023.

President Bola Tinubu mandated that the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) lead the implementation.

NITDA is expected to build better systems to manage financial data and compliance in Nigeria in collaboration with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).

At the inaugural meeting for the implementation, Kashifu Inuwa, director-general of NITDA, said the project would address deficiencies identified in Nigeria’s Mutual Evaluation Report (MER).

Mr Inuwa explained that FATF placed Nigeria on the grey list because of seven issues: rising capital inflows, shortcomings in combating money laundering, and inability to combat arms financing.

“We had shortcomings in combating terrorism financing, anti-money laundering regime, counter-terrorism financing regime, and deficiency in our counter-proliferation financing regime.

“The main objective of building a better system is to help us with global compliance and to help Nigeria position itself as a key player in the global effort to combat financial terrorism and other crimes.

“This will help us to create visibility in Nigeria, as well as improve our global reputation and relationship in the financial market,” he said.

He said the project would improve national security and had the capacity to track illicit financial flow, disrupt criminal networks in the financial sector, strengthen law enforcement, and encourage investment.

Mr Inuwa emphasised Mr Tinubu’s commitment to combating corruption and financial crime through innovation and technology.

Stanley Adedeji, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on ICT and Cybersecurity, underscored the value of technology, saying Nigeria deserved to lead in cutting-edge technologies.

Mr Adedeji assured that the National Assembly would ensure that projects such as these gained the deserved funding.

“We are going to make sure that the right funding is put in place for this project without any doubt.

“We are also going to make sure that if there are any laws today that are going to impede or be a stumbling block to what this project stands to achieve, we have to go and amend those laws.

“If there are things that require executive orders so that we can quickly move forward, we will do whatever needs to be done,” he said.

Hafsat Bakari, director-general of NFIU, called for more collaboration among stakeholders to sustain the gains of exiting the grey list.

According to Ms Bakari, the grey list is not just a one-off project but a continuous project.

“The next cycle of evaluation will be done in 2027, and we do not want a situation where, after exiting the grey list, we still find ourselves in the next evaluation.

“This is why we have decided that the use of technology will give credibility to every statistic that we have, not just to our domestic stakeholders but also to our international partners.

“Everything should be done in real-time—accessible, credible and factual; that is the project that we are doing today,” she said.

(NAN)