The Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and SecFin Africa have resolved to strengthen their collaboration towards the effective enforcement of Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) laws in Nigeria.
This decision was reached in Abuja on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, when SCUML’s Acting Director, Deputy Commander of the EFCC, DCE Harry Tope Erin, received a delegation from SecFin Africa, which is on a scoping mission to agencies responsible for supervising and enforcing AML/CFT laws in Nigeria.
The Coordinator for the West Africa hub of SecFin Africa, Stephanie Berthoneau, in her remarks, said, “The SecFin Africa project is a classical AML/CFT initiative funded by the European Union and supported by France and Germany. The project aims to support African countries in preventing and combating Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs), to increase domestic stability.”
She stated that the meeting was intended to understand and explore the AML/CFT landscape in Nigeria and the challenges faced by various agencies.
Erin acknowledged the importance of the mission, which he said aims to strengthen Nigeria’s AML/CFT regime, noting that SCUML is committed to and open to collaboration. He provided an overview of SCUML, its mandate, and current initiatives, which include—but are not limited to—developing solutions for operations and intelligence-driven compliance monitoring. He further highlighted areas where the Unit could benefit from the SecFin project, including capacity building, integration, and consolidation of SCUML’s infrastructure, among others.
SecFin Africa, with its objective of securing a robust AML/CFT framework against illicit financial flows in Sub-Saharan African countries, has a 48-month lifespan from 2024 to 2028.
