ECA, Nigeria Strengthen Capacity to Curb Illicit Financial Flows

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Finance of Nigeria, concluded a five-day capacity-building workshop on the estimation of illicit financial flows (IFFs), aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s ability to detect, measure, and curb revenue losses arising from trade mis-invoicing.

The workshop held in Abuja brought together officials from key national institutions, including the Federal Ministry of Finance, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Others are Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

The training focused on the practical application of advanced analytical tools, notably the Partner Country Method Plus (PCM+), Price Filter Method Plus (PFM+), and risk-based audit techniques, to enhance the accuracy of IFF measurement using customs import and export data.

Opening the workshop, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, Minister of State for Finance, described illicit financial flows as a major threat to Nigeria’s economic sovereignty, noting that trade mis-invoicing continues to deprive the country of critical resources needed for development.

She emphasized that strengthening the use of customs data would improve revenue protection, compliance and alignment with global standards to combat illicit financial practices.

In his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Mr. Raymond O. Omachi, underscored the importance of accurate measurement in addressing IFFs, highlighting the role of reliable data in strengthening policy decisions, transparency and accountability

Delivering goodwill remarks, Prof. Bolaji Owasaonye, Coordinating Director of Proceeds of Crime and Illicit Financial Flows, stressed the need for sustained inter-agency collaboration to translate enhanced technical capacity into effective enforcement and policy reform.

ECA’s Allan Mukungu highlighted that the workshop builds on an earlier ECA-supported training conducted in May 2025 and addresses identified capacity gaps and data availability challenges in the analysis of trade-based IFFs.

Participants engaged in hands-on exercises using synthetic and real-world datasets, with a strong emphasis on producing actionable monthly reports and policy-relevant recommendations.

In his vote of thanks, Idris Abdullahi, coordinator of Nigeria’s Inter-agency Technical Working Group on IFFs underscored the commitment of the government to address IFFs, particularly the data challenges highlighted by UNECA which inhibit estimation and constrains the process of identifying vulnerabilities and formulation of measures to tackle them and ultimately protect the country’s financial security. 

ECA reaffirmed its commitment to supporting African countries in strengthening domestic resource mobilization, combating illicit financial flows and safeguarding public revenues, in line with Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.