The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has pledged to strengthen its fight against money laundering and terrorism financing following Nigeria’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list on October 24, 2025.
The Service said it would sustain the progress made in strengthening the country’s anti-money laundering framework and ensure the gains are not reversed.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, represented by the Deputy Comptroller-General in charge of Finance, Administration and Technical Services, Kikelomo Adeola, gave the assurance during a stocktaking meeting at the Customs headquarters in Abuja.
The meeting was organised ahead of Nigeria’s next mutual evaluation under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) framework.
Adeniyi described Nigeria’s removal from the FATF grey list as a significant achievement, stressing the need for sustained institutional cooperation to maintain the country’s progress.
He said that the meeting provided an opportunity to assess existing measures, identify implementation gaps and develop strategies to strengthen the country’s compliance with international standards.
“It is an opportunity to take an honest look at the progress Nigeria has made so far, identify the gaps that presently exist and ensure that Nigeria’s achievements are sustained,” he said.
Adeniyi commended the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) for its initiatives to prepare relevant institutions for the evaluation, expressing confidence that Nigeria would not return to the grey list.
He, however, noted that the Customs Service could not achieve the objective independently, calling for stronger collaboration among agencies involved in safeguarding the country’s financial system.
Speaking at the meeting, the Chief Executive Officer of the NFIU, Hafsat Abubakar, represented by the Chief Operations Officer for Law Enforcement Support and Coordination, Emmanuel Sotande, said that the exercise would help institutions assess their progress and address outstanding weaknesses.
According him, Nigeria’s removal from the FATF grey list demonstrated the value of collective action, adding that the priority now was to sustain the gains and demonstrate the effectiveness of measures put in place.
He said that the Customs Service occupied a strategic position in the country’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing framework because of its responsibility for border enforcement and trade monitoring.
Beyond revenue collection and trade facilitation, he also said that the Service helps to detect suspicious cross-border activities that could be linked to illicit financial flows.
Abubakar explained that Customs’ access to import and export documents, cargo information, trade records and border intelligence, complemented the financial intelligence gathered by the NFIU.
He maintained that the effective information sharing between the two agencies would improve their ability to identify suspicious networks, trace illicit proceeds and support enforcement actions.
The meeting highlighted the importance of inter-agency cooperation in strengthening Nigeria’s financial safeguards, improving regulatory compliance and protecting the integrity of legitimate cross-border trade.
