ABSTRACT
The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit Establishment bill was signed into law on July 11, 2018. The act, a quick legislative response to the suspension of Nigeria from the Egmont Group, establishes an independent Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and confers it with autonomy in tackling money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TF) by creating a framework for NFIU to operate free of state control. It is not in dispute that Nigeria has robust anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) initiatives. However, ML remains a problem due to implementation and enforcement challenges. The underlying objective of the act is to reset the current enforcement framework and to provide a regulatory ‘safety net’ for monitoring and chasing tainted money within the financial system. Beyond having an elaborate AML/CFT framework, it is contended that proper attention must be focused on the implementation challenges which have been undermining Nigeria’s AML/CFT efforts. Unless Nigeria tackles the perennial struggles against corruption, which is reinforced by worsening socio-economic and political conditions, winning the fight against ML/TF may be elusive.
