ANEEJ Urges Nigerian Government to Use UK Illicit Finance Summit to Advance Critical Reforms Against IFFs
Benin City, Edo State. May 24, 2026 – The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) has called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to use the forthcoming United Kingdom Illicit Finance Summit scheduled for December 2026 as an opportunity to advance bold accountability, transparency, and anti-corruption reforms aimed at combating Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) and strengthening governance systems in Nigeria.
Speaking ahead of the Summit, the Executive Director of ANEEJ, Rev. David Ugolor, stated that Nigeria must move beyond policy rhetoric and pursue concrete reforms capable of addressing systemic corruption, procurement fraud, illicit capital flight, and weak transparency systems.
According to Ugolor “The UK Illicit Finance Summit presents a strategic opportunity for Nigeria to demonstrate genuine political commitment toward transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption reforms. Nigeria must approach the Summit with measurable commitments that strengthen institutions, improve public oversight, and reduce opportunities for illicit financial flows.”
Ugolor also called for Stronger Global Action Against Dirty Money, urging United Kingdom and other global financial centres to strengthen efforts aimed at ending financial secrecy regimes, tackling professional enablers of corruption, improving enforcement against money laundering, and preventing safe havens for stolen assets.
“It will be important for the Nigerian government to improve collaboration with the United Kingdom to advance mutual legal assistance mechanisms, enhance cross-border information sharing, and accelerate asset tracing and confiscation procedures. This is especially as the UK is preparing to take on leadership roles across the Financial Action Task Force, G20, Open Government Partnership and G7,” Ugolor asserted
The organisation stressed that the success of the UK Illicit Finance Summit will ultimately depend on the willingness of governments to move beyond declarations and implement practical reforms capable of reducing corruption and ensuring that public resources are used for sustainable development and citizens’ welfare.
The UK Government recently announced that the global summit, initially planned for June 2026, has been rescheduled to December 2026 to enable broader international participation and stronger global commitments against illicit finance. The Summit is expected to convene governments, international organisations, civil society groups, financial institutions, law enforcement agencies, investigative journalists, and private sector actors to strengthen international cooperation on anti-money laundering enforcement, asset recovery, beneficial ownership transparency, illicit gold trade, property sector laundering, and misuse of crypto-assets.
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