The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has raised the alarm over increasingly sophisticated methods being used by terrorist financiers to move and conceal illicit funds in Nigeria.

In its 2025 annual report, the agency said terrorist financiers sometimes open bank accounts in the names of their wives, sisters and female associates, which are then secretly controlled by male commanders and logistics managers.

The NFIU described the practice as “identity laundering”, noting that some women whose accounts are used may be unaware of the transactions or the amount of money passing through their accounts.

It said financiers may also use improperly registered or disconnected phone numbers, including pre-registered SIM cards and numbers linked to deceased persons or other individuals, to conceal the real beneficiaries of transactions.

The agency further identified the use of coded transaction descriptions by terrorist groups, particularly those linked to the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), to disguise payments for logistics and evade automated banking monitoring systems.

According to the NFIU, facilitators may use seemingly harmless words, secret codes, alphanumeric strings and different languages to avoid detection by financial institutions.

The agency also warned that crowdfunding and international remittance platforms could be exploited to finance terrorist activities.

It said foreign-based facilitators could disguise fundraising campaigns as humanitarian or educational initiatives, attracting hundreds of small donations that are later consolidated and transferred through money-transfer operators and remittance applications to Nigerian intermediaries.

The intermediaries, including students, small-business owners and relatives, could then convert the funds to cash, purchase dual-use items or transfer the money to terrorist logistics managers and field operatives.

The NFIU said the emerging methods highlight the growing sophistication of terrorist financing networks and their exploitation of legitimate banking, telecommunications and digital fundraising platforms to sustain insurgent operations.