The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has moved to establish a Joint Financial Intelligence Collaboration (JFIC) framework aimed at strengthening cooperation between public institutions and private-sector organisations in detecting and disrupting illicit financial activities.

The initiative was discussed during a high-level stakeholder engagement in Abuja, where representatives of regulators, banks, insurance companies, fintech firms, Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), technology companies and other stakeholders participated in the co-design of the proposed framework.

The engagement was organised with the support of the British High Commission in Nigeria and the Convention for Business Integrity (CBi).

Representing the NFIU Director and Chief Executive Officer, Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, the Unit’s General Counsel, Felix Obiamalu, said the process had moved beyond preliminary discussions to the design and implementation stage.

“We have moved from dialogue to design, to commitment and implementation,” Obiamalu said.

He said stakeholders were now focused on determining the structure, operations, value and sustainability of the proposed partnership rather than merely discussing its concept.

According to him, the JFIC is intended to provide a trusted platform through which public and private institutions can share intelligence more effectively, identify emerging financial threats and disrupt illicit financial networks.

Obiamalu stressed that the participation of organisations across the financial and technology sectors was important to ensuring that the framework addresses practical operational challenges and delivers meaningful results.

Speaking on behalf of the British High Commission, Jehanzeb Khan, an Illicit Financial Flows Officer with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), emphasised the importance of stronger public-private collaboration in combating illicit financial flows.

Olusoji Apampa, Managing Director of CBi, said the process was deliberately designed to give the private sector a central role in shaping the proposed framework.

He said this approach would help ensure that the initiative reflects operational realities and secures broad ownership among participating stakeholders.

Delivering the keynote presentation, Xolisile Khanyile, former Chair of the Egmont Group and former Director of South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Centre, described private-sector participation in the fight against financial crime as a national responsibility.

Khanyile urged Nigeria to adopt a practical and phased approach to implementing the proposed collaboration, stressing that trust, shared ownership and cooperation would be critical to its success.

“Trust, shared ownership and collaboration are the foundations of every successful public-private partnership,” she said.

She also described the initiative as timely, given Nigeria’s role in the international anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework.

The engagement ended with stakeholder support for the proposed JFIC framework and a commitment to advancing a partnership capable of improving financial intelligence, strengthening threat detection and enhancing Nigeria’s response to increasingly sophisticated financial crimes.

The NFIU said the initiative reflects the growing need for government agencies and private-sector organisations to work together, particularly through sustained information sharing, early risk identification and coordinated action.