The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has pledged to intensify its fight against money laundering, terrorism financing and cross-border financial crimes, warning that Nigeria must protect the gains that secured its removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list on October 24, 2025.
The warning came as Nigerian authorities began taking stock of the country’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing framework ahead of its next mutual evaluation, a process that will scrutinise how effectively institutions implement measures designed to protect the nation’s financial system from illicit funds.
At a stocktaking meeting held at the Customs headquarters in Abuja on October 26, 2026, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, represented by the Deputy Comptroller-General in charge of Finance, Administration and Technical Services, Kikelomo Adeola, described the country’s exit from the international monitoring list as a major national achievement that must not be reversed.
The meeting brought together officials working to assess progress, identify weaknesses and strengthen Nigeria’s readiness for the next evaluation of its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures.
For the Customs Service, the stakes extend beyond revenue collection and trade facilitation.
Its access to cargo manifests, import and export records, trade documentation and border intelligence places it in a strategic position to help detect suspicious movements of goods and identify activities potentially linked to illicit financial flows.
Adeola said the stocktaking exercise should not be treated as a routine administrative meeting but as an opportunity to determine whether Nigeria’s reforms are delivering sustainable results.
She warned that failing to preserve the progress already achieved could undermine the country’s efforts to strengthen its financial integrity.
“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,” Adeola said.
She added that allowing the gains to erode would amount to moving backwards after substantial progress.
Nigeria’s removal from the FATF grey list on October 24, 2025, marked a significant milestone in its efforts to address deficiencies in the systems used to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
But the Customs leadership stressed that removal from the list should not be mistaken for the end of the process.
The immediate challenge is to demonstrate that reforms are functioning effectively, that institutions can identify and respond to suspicious activities, and that enforcement mechanisms remain operational beyond the period of heightened scrutiny.
Adeola commended the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) for coordinating programmes and measures aimed at preparing the country for the next evaluation.
“I believe Nigeria will never go back to that grey list,” she declared.
Her assurance, however, comes alongside an acknowledgment that gaps still need to be identified and addressed. The stocktaking exercise is intended to establish where implementation requires improvement before the next assessment.
The distinction is important: Nigeria’s previous exit demonstrated progress, while maintaining that position will depend on continued institutional performance and evidence of effective enforcement.
Adeola said the Customs Service could not tackle the challenge alone, stressing the need for cooperation among institutions responsible for financial intelligence, law enforcement and border management.
“A tree does not make a forest,” she said, underscoring the importance of collective action.
The NCS occupies a distinctive position in the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing framework because suspicious financial activity can intersect with international trade, cargo movements and cross-border transactions.
Customs officers handle import and export documentation, cargo information and border intelligence that can help investigators identify inconsistencies or patterns requiring further scrutiny.
When properly shared with financial intelligence and law enforcement agencies, these records can complement information about financial transactions and help authorities trace suspected illicit proceeds.
That cooperation can be particularly important where criminal networks use trade transactions or cross-border movements to conceal the origins, ownership or destinations of funds and goods.
For the Customs Service, the challenge is to connect its operational information with the intelligence held by other agencies, while ensuring that suspicious activities are reported and investigated through the appropriate channels.
The Chief Executive Officer of the NFIU, Hafsat Abubakar, represented at the meeting by the Chief Operations Officer for Law Enforcement Support and Coordination, Emmanuel Sotande, said the stocktaking exercise was designed to measure progress, expose outstanding weaknesses and strengthen collective preparedness for the next mutual evaluation.
Sotande thanked the Customs Service for hosting the meeting and providing an opportunity for officials and assessors to reflect on the country’s progress.
He described Nigeria’s removal from the FATF grey list in October 2025 as a collective achievement, emphasising that the responsibility now is to preserve the gains and demonstrate lasting effectiveness.
“Nigeria’s exit from the FATF grey list in October 2025 was a significant achievement that we all achieved by working together,” he said.
His remarks reinforced the central message of the meeting: Nigeria’s financial crime safeguards must be judged not only by the policies and procedures adopted, but also by how effectively they work in practice.
The next evaluation will therefore make institutional coordination, implementation and the ability to demonstrate results important considerations in assessing the country’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing framework.
Sotande said the Customs Service’s contribution to the national framework goes beyond its conventional responsibilities for revenue generation, trade facilitation and border enforcement.
He identified the Service’s ability to detect suspicious cross-border transactions and activities as an important complement to the financial intelligence gathered by the NFIU.
“Customs plays a vital role in detecting suspicious transactions and activities across borders,” he said.
According to him, Customs records, cargo documentation, trade information and border intelligence can strengthen the work of financial intelligence officials when the information is shared promptly and acted upon in a coordinated manner.
“When these capabilities are effectively connected through timely information sharing and coordinated action, we are better positioned to identify suspicious networks, trace illicit proceeds and support appropriate enforcement measures,” Sotande added.
The emphasis on information-sharing highlights one of the practical tests facing the agencies: ensuring that intelligence collected by one institution can be used effectively by others with the authority and capacity to investigate suspected financial crimes.
Without timely coordination, potentially valuable information held in trade and border records may not be fully connected to financial investigations.
The stocktaking meeting signals a shift from celebrating Nigeria’s departure from the FATF grey list to examining whether the country can sustain the reforms that supported that achievement.
The work ahead includes identifying outstanding gaps, strengthening cooperation among relevant agencies and ensuring that the systems designed to detect and disrupt illicit financial flows are applied consistently.
For Customs, this means maintaining vigilance over cross-border trade and using its information and enforcement capabilities to support the wider national response.
For the NFIU and other relevant institutions, the task is to ensure that intelligence can move across institutional boundaries and translate into appropriate action.
The authorities did not disclose a date for the next mutual evaluation, a quantified target for enforcement outcomes or a breakdown of the gaps identified during the stocktaking meeting.
Nevertheless, the message from both institutions was clear: Nigeria’s October 2025 removal from the FATF grey list must be sustained through continued cooperation, effective implementation and demonstrable results.
The success of the next phase will depend not simply on Nigeria’s ability to retain its improved international standing, but on whether its financial intelligence and law enforcement institutions can consistently identify suspicious activity, trace illicit proceeds and strengthen the integrity of the country’s financial and trade systems.
