By Adeola Makinde
Nigeria’s financial sector intensified its fight against illicit financial flows in 2024, with banks, fintech firms, insurance companies, and capital market operators reporting 82,143 suspicious transactions to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
The figure, contained in the NFIU’s 2024 Annual Report, underscores growing vigilance against money laundering, terrorism financing, and other unlawful activities. The report also revealed that the agency received 25.8 million Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs) and 23,364 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) during the year.
Breakdown of Reports
- Deposit Money Banks (DMBs): 73,531 suspicious transaction reports, accounting for nearly 90% of filings.
- Other Financial Institutions: 5,442 reports.
- Capital Market Operators & Insurance Firms: 1,796 reports.
- Designated Non-Financial Businesses & Professions (DNFBPs): 1,013 reports.
- Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs): 361 reports.
Quarterly filings showed steady growth, with banks submitting 14,744 STRs in Q1, rising to 21,704 in Q4. Other financial institutions also recorded increases, from 842 in Q1 to 1,908 in Q4.
Compliance and Oversight
The NFIU explained that suspicious transaction reports are mandatory under Section 7 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, whenever a transaction is suspected to be linked to money laundering, terrorist financing, or other unlawful conduct.
To strengthen compliance, the agency conducted 1,317 off-site examinations and 98 on-site inspections across major cities including Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Kaduna. It also onboarded 483 reporting entities onto its platforms and registered 44,256 DNFBPs on a simplified reporting system developed with SCUML.
Emerging Risks
The report flagged several risks, including:
- Frequent cash withdrawals from government accounts at state and local levels.
- Use of corporate entities to mask transactions involving virtual assets.
- Misuse of personal accounts for business to evade taxes.
- Diversion of public funds through third-party entities.
- Illegal Bureau de Change operators laundering funds for politically exposed persons.
It also warned that emerging technologies such as AI tools, online file converters, and digital platforms could expose institutions to fraud and regulatory breaches if not properly managed.
Intelligence Sharing
In 2024, the NFIU disseminated 3,030 proactive intelligence reports and 1,866 reactive reports to relevant authorities. Corruption topped the offences linked to these reports, followed by fraud, money laundering, tax crimes, and drug trafficking.
The agency also strengthened international cooperation, receiving 84 requests from foreign financial intelligence units and making 109 requests abroad.
Regulatory Push
Separately, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued a draft framework in May 2025 to modernise anti-money laundering practices. The proposed standards mandate financial institutions to deploy AI-powered AML systems capable of real-time monitoring, anomaly detection, and automated reporting to the NFIU.
By integrating intelligent solutions, regulators aim to enhance detection accuracy, reduce false positives, and align Nigeria’s financial system with global standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).