Customs Partners Six Agencies to Strengthen Fight Against Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has strengthened its partnership with six federal government agencies to combat cross-border illicit financial flows, money laundering, corruption, drug trafficking, terrorism financing and other financial crimes.
The initiative followed a three-day strategic engagement held between October 27 and 29, 2026, led by the Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of Headquarters, Muhammad Shuaibu.
The engagement was aimed at deepening inter-agency cooperation, improving intelligence sharing and strengthening institutional capacity to tackle financial crimes and other activities threatening Nigeria’s economy and national security.
The agencies involved are the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), and the National Counter-Terrorism Centre under the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
Speaking during the engagements, Shuaibu explained that the initiative was designed to improve coordination among relevant institutions, particularly in detecting and disrupting cross-border illicit financial activities.
He said the mission included visits to selected border stations to assess existing Customs control measures and engage relevant agencies on practical approaches to addressing identified security and financial threats.
In his remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of the NFIU, represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Intelligence Security Service Sector, Muhammed-Mustapha, commended the Customs Service for its contributions to the fight against smuggling and efforts to strengthen border security.
He described the relationship between the NFIU and Customs as longstanding, noting that the NCS was the first agency to collaborate with the financial intelligence unit following its establishment.
“When NFIU was created, NCS was the first to collaborate with us. No particular agency understands things better than how Customs does globally,” Mustapha said.
Also participating in the engagements was the World Customs Organisation (WCO) Mentoring Team, led by Shahiduzzaman Sarkar.
The team discussed strategies for strengthening Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) measures while urging other institutions to deepen their cooperation with the NCS.
Participants identified communication gaps, bureaucratic bottlenecks and concerns surrounding database privacy as some of the challenges affecting effective inter-agency collaboration.
They also explored practical solutions to address the challenges and improve information sharing and institutional coordination.
The engagements concluded with the presentation of NCS awards and WCO certificates to the participating agencies in recognition of their contributions and commitment to strengthening cooperation against threats to Nigeria’s economy and national security.
