AWC Foreign Affairs Desk, February 2O26
Arusha, Tanzania — Nigeria and Mozambique have strengthened bilateral cooperation in the fight against financial crime with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between their Financial Intelligence Units.
The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG)/EGFIU Meetings in Arusha by the heads of both agencies—Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Nigeria (NFIU), and Aurelio Matavele, Director-General of Mozambique’s Financial Intelligence Unit.
Under the MoU, both countries committed to closer collaboration in training and capacity building, information sharing, and operational cooperation aimed at curbing illicit financial flows, money laundering, terrorist financing, and related financial crimes.
Officials described the partnership as a strategic step toward enhancing regional and international financial integrity, noting that cross-border collaboration is essential to tackling increasingly sophisticated financial crimes.
The agreement is particularly significant as Nigeria and Mozambique were recently removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Grey List, which identifies jurisdictions with deficiencies in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing frameworks. Their delisting underscores sustained reforms and a renewed commitment to global best practices.
By formalizing cooperation between their FIUs, both countries aim to consolidate recent gains, strengthen compliance regimes, and reinforce confidence in their financial systems through sustained international partnership.
