Nigeria wins prestigious global asset recovery award via EFCC-NFIU partnership

The collaboration between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) in combating financial crimes has earned Nigeria the UNODC–World Bank–Egmont Group Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative Award at the 32nd Egmont Group Plenary of Heads of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from July 5 to 10, 2026.

According to a statement released by the EFCC on Friday, the StAR Award is regarded as one of the highest operational honours in the global financial intelligence community, recognising exceptional use of financial intelligence to advance investigations, dismantle illicit financial networks, and recover stolen assets.

The Egmont Group described the award as “a distinction strictly reserved for outstanding cases that exemplify innovation, international cooperation, operational effectiveness, and measurable impact” in the fight against financial crimes.

The organisation further stated that the EFCC-NFIU collaboration had become a global model for effective intelligence sharing, noting that secure and timely exchange of financial intelligence between domestic institutions and international partners led to a significant recovery of stolen assets.

It stated that “the winning case demonstrated how the NFIU’s intelligence-driven data successfully fed into and strengthened EFCC’s law enforcement investigations, resulting in a monumental recovery of stolen assets.”

The 2026 plenary featured discussions on strengthening public-private partnerships to address the evolving nature of financial crime and enhance collaboration between FIUs and other stakeholders.

The Egmont Group is a network of 180 member Financial Intelligence Units committed to improving global cooperation and the exchange of financial intelligence to detect, deter and disrupt financial crime. It also facilitates information sharing, knowledge exchange and operational cooperation among its members.