The federal government says collaboration is crucial to fighting financial crime and encouraging clean investment.

The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said this at the High-Level Roundtable: Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to Fight Financial Crime in Abuja on Tuesday.

The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) jointly organised the event.

Mr Tunji-Ojo expressed concern over individuals generating illicit funds from government and private sector activities.

He said there was a need for strong collaboration between the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), the agency responsible for PPP in Nigeria, and the NFIU to combat financial crime.

The minister said that PPPs must undergo thorough vetting by the NFIU to prevent illicit profit-making in the system.

Mr Tunji-Ojo said this would ensure that funds from such partnerships were properly invested back into the social system rather than being misappropriated for personal gain.

He said the federal government was committed to collaboration, adding that it is important to know the source of every kobo invested in PPP.

The minister urged government agencies to work together, as their role is to complement one another rather than compete.

The chief executive officer of NFIU, Hafsat Bakari, said the country and the global community faced a growing and interconnected web of financial crimes that undermine our economic integrity.

According to Ms Bakari, it threatens national and global security and facilitates the spread of weapons and other illicit goods that destabilise our region.

“More importantly, the networks that facilitate these crimes exploit weaknesses in our ability to work together and share information across all the stakeholders involved in the fight against financial crime.

”No one organisation, public or private, has the capacity to confront these challenges in isolation. It is only through cooperation that we can expect to win,” Ms Bakari said.

She said that PPPs provided a structured and effective platform for pooling resources, intelligence, and technologies.

Ms Bakari said a prime example of a successful PPP in Nigeria is the Bank Verification Number (BVN) initiative, which strengthened the nation’s AML/CFT framework and demonstrated the potential of PPPs to deliver systemic impact.

(NAN)