The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has mobilised banks, insurers, fintechs, virtual asset service providers and technology companies to develop a new framework for stronger public-private collaboration in combating financial crimes and illicit financial flows.
The initiative, known as the Joint Financial Intelligence Collaboration (JFIC), is designed to provide a trusted platform for public and private-sector institutions to share financial intelligence, identify emerging threats and disrupt illicit financial networks.
The high-level stakeholder engagement, organised with the support of the British High Commission in Nigeria and the Convention for Business Integrity (CBi), brought together regulators and key players across the financial and technology sectors to co-design the proposed framework.
Representing the NFIU Chief Executive Officer, Hajia Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, the Unit’s General Counsel, Felix Obiamalu, said the initiative had moved beyond discussions to the design and implementation stage.
“We have moved from dialogue to design, to commitment and implementation,” Obiamalu said.
He said the objective was to jointly determine the structure, operating model and value proposition of the partnership while ensuring its 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 added.
Speaking for the British High Commission, the Illicit Financial Flows Officer at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Jehanzeb Khan, reaffirmed the importance of stronger cooperation between government and the private sector in tackling illicit financial flows.
Managing Director of CBi, Olusoji Apampa, said the process was deliberately structured to put the private sector at the centre of decision-making.
He explained that the approach would ensure that the proposed framework reflects the operational realities of businesses while securing broad stakeholder ownership.
Delivering the keynote address, former Chair of the Egmont Group and former Director of South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Centre, Xolisile Khanyile, described private-sector participation in the fight against financial crime as a national responsibility.
She urged Nigeria to adopt a practical and phased approach to implementing the initiative, stressing that trust, shared ownership and collaboration were essential to successful public-private partnerships.
“Given Nigeria’s importance within the global AML/CFT framework, this initiative is both timely and necessary,” Khanyile said.
The engagement ended with strong stakeholder backing for the proposed JFIC framework and a commitment to developing a partnership capable of strengthening financial intelligence, improving early threat detection and enhancing Nigeria’s response to increasingly sophisticated financial crimes.
Participants agreed that the scale and complexity of modern financial crime require closer collaboration between government and industry, particularly through timely intelligence sharing, early identification of risks and coordinated action.
