Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu

Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu is a Barrister and Solicitor with over 32 years’ experience. She is a law graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and holds a master’s in law from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, as well as a Master of Arts in Governance from the University of Sussex. She is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and is currently a Doctoral Researcher at the University of Sussex, focusing on leveraging recovered proceeds of crime and illicit financial flows to advance sustainable development in Africa, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union Agenda 2063.

She serves as the Executive Director of the African Centre for Governance, Asset Recovery and Sustainable Development, where she leads cutting-edge research. She previously served as an Assistant Director with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and as Director of the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit.

As a former Anti-Money Laundering Legal Expert at the Intergovernmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA/ECOWAS), she worked on legal advisory and implementation roles across West Africa in partnership with international organisations, including the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). She also served as Adviser to the President of Nigeria (2016–2023) and contributed to key continental frameworks. She has consulted for various international and regional organisations, including the African Development Bank and the African Union, the UN office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the MacArthur Foundation, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the British Council, and the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

Ibekaku-Nwagwu specialises in governance, illicit financial flows, asset recovery, asset return, anti-foreign bribery regulations and victim compensation. She has extensive international and
regional experience in regulatory compliance, financial crime, and justice sector reform, with a strong focus on Africa.

She is a Fellow of the Compliance Institute of Nigeria (CIN), a member of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS), and a member of the Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association (CLA), UK. Ibekaku-Nwagwu serves as Convener of the CLA Anti-Corruption Committee and a member of the NBA Anti-Money Laundering Committee, as well as an Advisory Board member of the International Institute for Justice and Rule of Law (IIJ), Malta. She is an Associate Editor of the University of Sussex’s School of Law, Politics and Sociology’s LaPSe of Reason Blog.