From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) has urged the Federal Government to leverage the upcoming United Kingdom Illicit Finance Summit as a platform to push for tangible reforms against corruption, illicit financial flows, and weak transparency systems in Nigeria.
Ahead of the summit scheduled for December 2026, ANEEJ Executive Director Rev. David Ugolor emphasized that Nigeria must go beyond policy rhetoric and demonstrate genuine political dedication through measurable actions.
“The UK Illicit Finance Summit presents a strategic opportunity for Nigeria to demonstrate genuine political commitment toward transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption reforms.”
Ugolor stated. “Nigeria must approach the summit with measurable commitments that strengthen institutions, enhance public oversight, and reduce opportunities for illicit financial flows.”
He called on the government to focus on tackling systemic corruption, procurement fraud, illicit capital flight, and gaps in public oversight that continue to enable financial leakages. Ugolor also emphasized the need for stronger global cooperation to combat international networks that facilitate the laundering of dirty money.
According to him, the United Kingdom and other major financial centers should intensify efforts to end financial secrecy regimes, hold professional enablers of corruption accountable, improve enforcement against money laundering, and prevent safe havens for stolen assets.
“It will be important for the Nigerian government to improve collaboration with the United Kingdom to push for mutual legal assistance mechanisms, enhance cross-border information sharing, and speed up asset tracing and confiscation procedures,” Ugolor stated.
He highlighted that the timing is significant, with the UK preparing to take leadership roles in the Financial Action Task Force, G20, Open Government Partnership, and G7.
ANEEJ emphasized that the summit’s success will depend on governments turning declarations into practical reforms that reduce corruption and ensure public resources are used for sustainable development and citizens’ welfare.
The UK government recently announced that the global summit, initially scheduled for June 2026, has been rescheduled to December 2026 to allow for broader international participation and stronger commitments against illicit finance.
The meeting is expected to bring together governments, international organizations, civil society groups, financial institutions, law enforcement agencies, investigative journalists, and private-sector actors. Key focus areas include anti-money laundering enforcement, asset recovery, beneficial ownership transparency, illicit gold trade, property sector laundering, and misuse of crypto-assets.
