QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION ON THE RISK ASSESSMENT OF NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN NIGERIA

The Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML) has commenced a terrorist financing assessment of non-profit organizations (NPOs) in Nigeria. This exercise is a key requirement in fulfilling Recommendation 8 of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards. The scheduled risk assessment is considered as a major response to the longstanding advocacy and pushback by non-profit organizations (NPOs) regarding the results of the 2016 national risk assessment (NRA) of money laundering (ML) and terrorism-financing (TF) risks in the country. The objectives of the assessment are to:

✓ To conduct a proper classification of the NPOs in Nigeria in order to identify those at risk of money laundering threat/terrorist financing abuse.
✓ To ensure improved compliance with relevant international and domestic laws/regulations (FATF/GIABA/MLPA/TPA/CAMA) by NPOs to secure better rating for Nigeria in the ongoing FATF/GIABA mutual evaluation exercise of Nigeria.
✓ To develop commensurate mitigation measures for the at-risk and vulnerable NPOs operating in Nigeria
✓ To ensure enhanced coordination and collaboration between government regulatory/law enforcement agencies and civil society.

On October 12, Spaces for Change – in collaboration with the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML) and with support from European Center for Not-for-Profit Law – hosted the first question and answer (Q & A) session which brought together relevant state agencies, representatives of local and international NPOs to deliberate on critical issues arising and the timeline for the exercise.