The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has reaffirmed its commitment to sustaining Nigeria’s gains in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing, warning against any reversal of the country’s progress following its removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list in October 2025.
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 on Monday, October 26, 2026, at a stocktaking meeting at the Customs Headquarters in Abuja.
The meeting was convened to assess Nigeria’s preparedness for its next Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) mutual evaluation.
Adeola described the exercise as a critical opportunity to review the country’s progress, identify outstanding gaps and strengthen measures to preserve the gains already recorded.
She stressed that Nigeria must consolidate its achievements to avoid losing the progress made in strengthening its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing framework.
“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, because if they are not, it is like one step forward, two steps backwards, and that should not be our portion,” she said.
The Customs chief’s representative commended the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) for its initiatives and programmes aimed at ensuring a smooth and successful evaluation process.
“I believe Nigeria will never go back to that grey list,” she declared.
Adeola noted that the NCS occupies a strategic position in the national framework because of its responsibilities for border enforcement, cargo monitoring and the facilitation of legitimate international trade.
However, she emphasised that the fight against financial crimes requires strong collaboration among relevant government institutions.
“A tree does not make a forest,” she said, underscoring the importance of coordinated efforts among agencies responsible for safeguarding Nigeria’s financial system.
Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of the NFIU, Hafsat Abubakar, represented by the Chief Operations Officer, Law Enforcement Support and Coordination, Emmanuel Sotande, expressed appreciation to the NCS for hosting the engagement and contributing to the discussions.
Sotande said the stocktaking exercise would enable stakeholders to measure progress, identify remaining deficiencies and strengthen institutional readiness for the forthcoming evaluation.
He described Nigeria’s removal from the FATF grey list in October 2025 as a significant national achievement made possible through collective efforts, adding that the priority now was to demonstrate sustained and effective implementation of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing standards.
According to him, the NCS plays a critical role in Nigeria’s efforts to combat money laundering, terrorism financing and the financing of proliferation, beyond its traditional responsibilities of revenue generation, trade facilitation and border enforcement.
He explained that the Service’s access to import and export documentation, cargo records, trade information and border intelligence provides valuable information that complements financial intelligence gathered by the NFIU.
“Customs plays a vital role in detecting suspicious transactions and activities across borders,” he said.
Sotande added that effective information sharing and coordinated enforcement between the two institutions would improve their capacity to identify suspicious networks, trace illicit proceeds and support appropriate enforcement actions.
He maintained that sustained inter-agency collaboration, effective implementation of existing measures and continuous identification of institutional gaps would be essential to protecting Nigeria’s financial integrity and maintaining the gains achieved through its removal from the FATF grey list.
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