S4C lauds Nigeria’s triumph: Out of FATF grey list, new era of transparency dawns

Stanley Ihedigbo

Spaces for Change (S4C) has commended the Federal Republic of Nigeria as it exits the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.

According to the S4C Executive Director, Ms. Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, the milestone was announced at the FATF plenary session held in Paris, France, in October 2025, where Nigeria was delisted from the grey list alongside Burkina Faso, South Africa, and Mozambique.

Delisting from the FATF grey list means that these countries have successfully addressed the identified deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) frameworks, and improved the integrity of their financial
systems within the agreed timeframes, monitored and reviewed by the International Cooperative Review Group (ICRG).

Before Nigeria and Burkina Faso’s exit, Spaces for Change (S4C) has been working in the two countries to ensure the effective implementation of FATF Recommendations, particularly as it relates to the non-profit sector.

Over the years, S4C’s advocacy focused on providing capacity-building support to non-profit organizations, key agencies, and regulators conducting national terrorism financing risk assessments, thereby strengthening their implementation of the FATF
Recommendation 8.

Other initiatives include conducting targeted outreaches, facilitating multistakeholder dialogues, and
delivering technical assistance to key agencies to implement key reform measures and programs towards combating money laundering and mitigating terrorism financing abuse in the non-profit sector. In 2022, Nigeria also took steps to remove nonprofits from the list of obliged reporting entities and reformed national AML/CFT frameworks, removing nonprofits from the list of designated non-financial professions and businesses (DNFBPs).

After these efforts, we are happy to witness the country’s positive compliance rating, specifically Nigeria, becoming the only West African country to secure a fully compliant rating on FATF Recommendation 8. Nigeria’s current delisting from the FATF grey list reinforces past progress and successes, demonstrating the country’s commitment to technical
compliance and operational effectiveness.

We congratulated the Federal Republic of Nigeria and, by extension, the Burkinabe authorities on this new milestone,
which will eventually translate into a less restrictive environment for charities and investors.

Spaces for Change remains committed to its institutional mandate of working to ensure the implementation of countermeasures across the subregion
does not limit civil society and restrict civic freedoms.