By Nkechi Eze
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has strengthened its collaboration with six federal government agencies to tackle cross-border illicit financial flows, money laundering, corruption, drug trafficking, terrorism financing and other financial crimes threatening Nigeria’s economy and national security.
The Assistant Comptroller-General in charge of Headquarters, Muhammad Shuaibu, led the Customs delegation on a three-day engagement with the agencies from October 27 to 29, 2026, as part of efforts to deepen intelligence sharing, improve operational coordination and strengthen institutional cooperation in combating transnational crimes.
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 said the initiative was designed to enhance inter-agency coordination and strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to detect and disrupt illicit financial activities across its borders.
“The sole objective of this mission is to effectively detect and disrupt cross-border illicit financial flows. The measures include field visits to selected border stations to assess practical Customs control measures and engage with relevant agencies,” he said.
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 combating smuggling and strengthening border security.
He also acknowledged the longstanding partnership between the two institutions, recalling that the NCS was among the first agencies to collaborate with the NFIU 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.
The engagements also featured the participation of the World Customs Organisation (WCO) Mentoring Team, led by Shahiduzzaman Sarkar, which interacted with the agencies on strategies for strengthening Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) frameworks.
The WCO team called for stronger collaboration with the NCS to ensure the success of the initiative and improve the effectiveness of measures against illicit financial flows and terrorism financing.
Participants also identified communication gaps, bureaucratic bottlenecks and concerns surrounding database privacy as some of the challenges hindering effective inter-agency cooperation.
Discussions subsequently focused on addressing these obstacles through improved information-sharing mechanisms, stronger institutional relationships and more effective coordination among the participating agencies.
The engagements featured the presentation of NCS awards and WCO certificates to the participating agencies in recognition of their contributions and commitment to strengthening cooperation.
The Customs Service said the initiative underscores its determination to build stronger institutional partnerships and enhance collective efforts to protect Nigeria’s borders, economy and national security against financial crimes and other transnational threats.
