The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has revealed that terrorist financiers are opening bank accounts in women's names to conceal illicit funds, while male commanders and logistics managers secretly control the accounts. This tactic is one of several sophisticated methods uncovered by the agency as terrorist networks exploit gaps in Nigeria's banking, telecommunications, and digital-finance systems. The disclosure is contained in the NFIU's 2025 Annual Report, which identifies fraud, tax crimes, corruption, money laundering, and terrorist financing as major drivers. The report also notes that dead persons' SIMs and proxy identities are used to break the financial trail, and ISWAP cells operate like shadow states using coded transactions.
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