A global financial crime watchdog, Financial Action Task Force, FATF, on Friday, at the end of a plenary meeting, announced the removal of Nigeria along with other three African countries from its watch list. This announcement freed Nigeria from nearly three years of close monitoring for illicit money flows.
Nigeria was removed from the list alongside South Africa, Burkina Faso, and Mozambique after their governments stepped up efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
South Africa and Nigeria landed on the grey list in February 2023, while Mozambique was added in October 2022 and Burkina Faso was originally designated in February 2021.
According to Reuters, South Africa and Nigeria were added to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) ‘grey list’ in 2023. Mozambique has been on there since 2022 and Burkina Faso since 2021
The removal of Nigeria from the list follows its stronger inter-agency coordination. This is expected to increase investors’ confidence and increase financial flow into the country
