Customs Pledges Sustained Fight Against Money Laundering 

…As Nigeria Prepares for Next Mutual Evaluation

 

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has described the country’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list on 24 October 2025 as a major national achievement and pledged to ensure the gains are not reversed.

Representing the Comptroller-General of Customs Adewale Adeniyi, the Deputy Comptroller-General in charge of Finance, Administration and Technical Services, DCG Kikelomo Adeola, made the expression on Monday, 26 October 2026, at a stocktaking meeting held at the Customs headquarters in Abuja.

The meeting was held ahead of the upcoming Nigeria’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) mutual evaluation.

According to Adeola, the gathering was more than an assessment of policies and procedures, describing it as a crucial assignment to chart the way forward.

“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.

She commended the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) for its series of measures and programmes, including the stocktaking exercise, aimed at making Nigeria’s journey into the third mutual evaluation smooth and successful. “I believe Nigeria will never go back to that grey list,” she declared.

Adeola noted that the NCS, as the institution responsible for moving goods and facilitating legitimate trade across borders, holds a strategic position but cannot succeed alone. “A tree does not make a forest,” she said.

Speaking at the session, the Chief Executive Officer of the NFIU, Hafsat Abubakar, represented by the Chief Operations Officer, Law Enforcement Support and Coordination, Emmanuel Sotande, thanked the NCS for its warm welcome and the humble reflections shared with the delegates and assessors. He said the stocktaking was an opportunity to assess progress, identify outstanding gaps and strengthen collective readiness for the next evaluation of how effectively institutions implement the standards that protect the country’s financial integrity.

 

“Nigeria’s exit from the FATF grey list in October 2025 was a significant achievement that we all achieved by working together,” Sotande said, adding that the responsibility now is to sustain the progress and demonstrate lasting effectiveness.

 

He said the NCS plays a role in Nigeria’s anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing and counter-proliferation framework that goes beyond its core duties of revenue collection, trade facilitation and border enforcement. “Customs plays a vital role in detecting suspicious transactions and activities across borders,” he said, explaining that the Service’s access to trade records, import and export documentation, cargo information and border intelligence complements the financial intelligence gathered by the NFIU.

“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,” he added.

Recall that Nigeria was removed from the grey list on 24 October 2025, during the FATF plenary in Paris, France, after completing a 19-point action plan, upgrading the NFIU’s intelligence platform, operationalising the Beneficial Ownership Register, and improving inter-agency cooperation.