The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has called for increased collaboration from Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professionals (DNFBPs) in combating money laundering and terrorism financing in Nigeria.
Speaking through the Acting Director of the Ibadan Zonal Directorate, Hauwa Ringim, at a one-day outreach event held in Ibadan, Olukoyede emphasized the vulnerability of key economic sectors such as real estate, legal, accounting, and solid mineral trading to illicit financial flows.
He stressed that DNFBPs must ensure full compliance with Anti-Money Laundering, Combating the Financing of Terrorism, and Countering the Proliferation of Weapons Financing (AML/CFT/CPF) measures as outlined by Nigeria’s financial regulations and global standards. “Dirty money only thrives in silent systems,” Olukoyede warned. “When professionals speak up and follow the rules, crime dies in the dark.”
Olukoyede cited the 2022 Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act as a critical framework empowering EFCC’s Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML) with regulatory and enforcement authority to penalize non-compliant DNFBPs.
The EFCC boss noted that Nigeria’s standing in the global financial system depends heavily on compliance with international best practices to avoid grey-listing and associated economic sanctions.
Also speaking at the event, ACE II Oluwatoyin Ehindero, representing SCUML Director Harry Erin, reiterated the importance of the outreach in sensitizing high-risk sectors to adopt strict compliance measures, adding that the goal is to support Nigeria’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.
