The African Center for Governance, Asset Recovery and Sustainable Development commends the successful completion of the One-Day Training of Trainers (ToT) Workshop on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Compliance and Use of the NBA AML Portal, held in Kano.
The ToT forms a key milestone in the UK (FCDO)-funded project, “Tackling Illicit Financial Flows through Asset Recovery, Management, and Strengthening ML/CFT/PF Compliance in Nigeria.” The workshop, implemented in collaboration with the Nigerian Bar Association Anti-Money Laundering Committee (AMLC), brought together branch representatives from nine branches in Kano, Jigawa, Kaduna, and Katsina State, compliance officers, and practising lawyers to deepen professional capacity, embed a risk-based approach to AML/CFT, and prepare participants to cascade training across NBA branches nationwide.
The workshop specifically achieved three key objectives:
- Capacity Building: Participants were trained on risk-based approaches to AML/CFT compliance and the effective use of the NBA AML Portal.
- Cascade Training: Attendees were equipped as in-house trainers and knowledge multipliers to further sensitize and train colleagues within their respective branches.
- Strengthening Compliance Culture: The program reinforced alignment with national regulations and international benchmarks set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), GIABA, and other global standards.
A central outcome of the workshop was hands-on training on the NBA Anti-Money Laundering Portal, a pioneering self-regulatory platform for the legal profession designed for Suspicious Activity/Transaction Reporting (SAR/STR), secure record-keeping, and improved oversight of client onboarding and transaction monitoring.
The African Center has been a strategic technical partner in this initiative, supporting the NBA AMLC in the development of a supervision toolkit in 2025 and leading the legal sector AML/CFT/PF risk assessment in 2024. These efforts have laid a strong foundation for sustainable compliance systems within the Nigerian legal profession.
Stakeholders underscored the role of Nigerian lawyers as “gatekeepers of the financial system” and emphasized the importance of preventing law firms from being exploited as conduits for illicit financial flows. The NBA-AML Portal—hailed as a groundbreaking self-regulatory tool, was showcased as a platform for suspicious activity reporting, transparent recordkeeping, and strengthening the culture of integrity within the legal profession.
The African Center notes that the workshop also represents a significant step toward Nigeria’s efforts to exit the FATF grey list, restore investor confidence, and improve the country’s global financial reputation.
Looking ahead, we will focus on:
- Ensure that the knowledge gained is cascaded across all NBA branches.
- supporting full operationalisation and routine use of the NBAAML Portal by law firms;
- Consolidate Nigeria’s fight against illicit financial flows through sustainable reforms.
We remain committed to building systems that promote integrity, good governance, and prevent illicit financial flows in Nigeria and across Africa.
