By Wahab Shittu, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN)
Strengthening the Legal Framework
A counter-terrorism financing strategy is only as strong as the legal architecture that underpins it. Nigeria's existing legal framework, primarily the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022 and the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022, represents significant progress, but critical gaps remain in implementation and judicial capacity.
Explicit Criminalisation and Predicate Offence Status
Terrorism financing must be unambiguously and specifically criminalised as a stand-alone offence in Nigerian law, not merely as an ancillary charge to terrorism itself. Furthermore, it must be treated as a predicate offence for money laundering, enabling prosecutors to pursue financiers through multiple, reinforcing legal avenues and maximising the tools available to freeze, seize, and confiscate illicit assets.
Non-Conviction-Based Asset Confiscation
One of the most powerful tools available in international AML/CFT practice, non-conviction-based (NCB) confiscation allows courts to seize assets derived from or intended for terrorist financing even when a criminal conviction is not secured. This is particularly vital in cases where suspects flee the jurisdiction or where criminal evidence standards are difficult to meet. Nigeria must strengthen its legal provisions for NCB confiscation and ensure judges are trained in its application.
Judicial Capacity and Expedited Prosecution
The Federal Government must invest in specialist training for judges and prosecutors handling terrorism financing cases and should consider establishing dedicated financial crimes courts or chambers with the expertise and resources to adjudicate complex cases efficiently. Justice delayed in this context is not merely justice denied; it is an operational subsidy to terrorist organisations.
International and Regional Cooperation
Terrorism financing is inherently transnational. Funds raised in Sahel countries transit through West African financial hubs; cryptocurrencies move through servers on multiple continents; hawala networks span Nigeria, the Middle East, and Europe. No domestic strategy, however well-designed, can succeed without robust international partnerships.
Cross-Border Financial Intelligence Exchange
Nigeria must deepen its bilateral and multilateral intelligence-sharing arrangements, including with Interpol, the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), and key international partners. Real-time exchange of financial intelligence, including information on suspicious transactions, account freezing actions, and emerging typologies, is essential to tracing funds as they cross borders.
Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs)
The Ministry of Justice must prioritise the conclusion, ratification, and active utilisation of Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties with key jurisdictions. MLATs are the legal backbone of international cooperation in terrorism financing investigations, enabling the compelled disclosure of financial records, extradition of suspects, and enforcement of confiscation orders across borders. Nigeria must also ensure that its domestic agencies have the trained personnel and resources to execute international requests promptly.
Specialised Training and Data Analytics
The modern terrorism financier is sophisticated. They use layered corporate structures, trade-based money laundering, cryptocurrency mixers, and complicit professional gatekeepers, including lawyers, accountants, and real estate agents. Combating this requires equally sophisticated human capital and technological capability.
Capacity Building Across the Security Architecture
The Federal Government must launch comprehensive, regular, and mandatory training programmes for law enforcement officers, intelligence analysts, financial investigators, and prosecutors on the latest terrorism financing methodologies. Specialist units within the NFIU, EFCC, DSS, and Nigeria Police Force financial crimes units must be equipped, adequately staffed, and insulated from political interference.
Leveraging Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence
Nigeria's large financial sector generates enormous volumes of transaction data daily. Manual review of suspicious transaction reports is wholly inadequate to capture the full picture. The Federal Government, in partnership with the private sector and international technical assistance providers, must invest in advanced data analytics platforms and AI-driven transaction monitoring systems capable of identifying suspicious patterns, network connections, and anomalous behaviours at scale, reducing dependence on individual bank officers spotting suspicious activity amidst millions of daily transactions.
Summary of Recommended Actions
- Broaden targeted financial sanctions to cover all assets owned or controlled by designated persons by CBN / NFIU / OFAC-equivalent.
- Establish fast-track intelligence-to-asset-freezing pipelines (within 24 hours) by DSS / NIA / NFIU / EFCC.
- Intensify supervision of Hawala networks and Bureau De Change operators by CBN / NFIU.
- Enforce comprehensive beneficial ownership registration and verification by CAC / FIRS / NFIU.
- Implement full FATF Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) regulations by SEC / CBN.
- Create two-way intelligence-sharing mechanisms with the private sector by NFIU / NSA / CBN.
- Establish dedicated terrorism financing STR fast-track reporting channels by NFIU / CBN.
- Criminalise terrorism financing explicitly as a predicate offence for money laundering by National Assembly / AGF.
- Enact and enforce non-conviction-based asset confiscation provisions by AGF / Federal High Court.
- Establish specialised financial crimes courts or chambers by the National Judicial Council / FGN.
- Deepen cross-border financial intelligence exchange via Egmont Group, Interpol and GIABA by NFIU / NIA / Ministry of Justice.
- Conclude and operationalise Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties with key jurisdictions by the Ministry of Justice / AGF.
- Launch mandatory CFT training programmes for law enforcement and prosecutors by NFIU / NPS / EFCC / DSS.
- Deploy AI-driven transaction monitoring and data analytics platforms by NFIU / CBN / Private Sector.
The above recommendations are based on internationally accepted counter-terrorism frameworks, including FATF Recommendations, UN Security Council Resolutions 1267, 1373, and 1988, and the provisions of Nigeria's Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022 and Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022. The recommendations are intended to guide policy making in Nigeria.
Conclusion
Terrorism financing is not an abstract, technical problem; it is the engine of violence, displacement, and insecurity that costs Nigerian lives every day. The Federal Government's response must be as determined, sophisticated, and coordinated as the threat itself. Piecemeal, reactive measures are no longer sufficient. The six-pillar framework outlined in this article, spanning asset identification and freezing, regulatory reform, public-private collaboration, legal strengthening, international cooperation, and technological capability, offers a coherent and comprehensive blueprint. It is aligned with global FATF standards and draws on the best practices of jurisdictions that have successfully degraded terrorist financing networks. The cost of inaction is measured not in policy documents, but in lives. Nigeria has both the obligation and the opportunity to cut off the oxygen supply to terrorism, and the time to act decisively is now.
Concluded.
Dr. Shittu is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
