GIABA money laundering risks rise from excessive cash use; agency urges electronic payments to fight transnational crimes in West Africa

The Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) has identified the excessive use of cash as a major driver of money laundering and other financial crimes across Nigeria and the wider West African region.

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GIABA is a specialised agency of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Speaking at the Joint GIABA–ECOWAS Gender Development Centre (EGDC) Regional Forum on Women and Transnational Organised Crimes in Lagos, Dr. Jeffery Isima, Acting Director of Policy and Research at GIABA, said reliance on cash hampers efforts to track illicit financial flows.

“What we are doing to deal with it is to help the Nigerian government enhance financial inclusion and cashless financing,” Isima said.

“We are helping to ensure that people can carry out large transactions through electronic payments.”

He explained that many individuals involved in financial crimes avoid banks because electronic transactions are traceable, making cash transactions more attractive for laundering illicit funds.

Isima highlighted the broader context of transnational organised crime in West Africa, noting that human trafficking is pervasive, evolving, and deeply harmful.

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) data shows children account for over 75 per cent of trafficking victims in the sub-region.

Ms. Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, Director/CEO of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), described human trafficking as one of the most lucrative forms of transnational organised crime worldwide, generating over $150 billion annually.

Women and girls represent more than 60 per cent of victims, with sexual exploitation and domestic servitude particularly prevalent in West Africa.

Bakari emphasised that trafficking creates a financial trail, including payments for recruitment, transportation, forged documentation, accommodation, and exploitation.

These proceeds are laundered through banks, mobile money platforms, informal value transfer systems, shell companies, and increasingly, digital and cryptocurrency channels.

“Trafficking cannot be effectively tackled without integrating anti–money laundering and counter-financing tools into national and regional responses,” Bakari said.

She added that structural vulnerabilities such as poverty, unemployment, displacement, porous borders, and entrenched gender inequalities provide fertile ground for traffickers, who increasingly exploit social media and community networks to recruit victims.

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Both speakers stressed the importance of risk-based supervision, intelligence-led interventions, and a shift towards electronic payments to combat the financial mechanisms underpinning transnational organised crimes.