By George Ozalla
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has strengthened its collaboration with six federal government agencies to combat cross-border illicit financial flows, money laundering, corruption, drug trafficking, terrorism financing and other related offences.
The initiative followed a three-day engagement from 27 to 29 October 2026, led by the Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of Headquarters, Muhammad Shuaibu, with a focus on improving intelligence sharing, operational coordination and cooperation among the agencies.
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 stressed that the initiative was designed to strengthen inter-agency coordination in addressing threats to Nigeria’s economy and national security.
He explained that the exercise was particularly aimed at improving the detection and disruption of cross-border illicit financial flows, adding that the team would also visit selected border stations to assess existing Customs control measures and engage relevant agencies on practical challenges.
“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,” Shuaibu said.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of the NFIU, represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Intelligence Security Service Sector, Muhammed-Mustapha, commended the NCS for its efforts in combating smuggling and strengthening border security.
Mustapha also acknowledged the longstanding working relationship between both institutions, recalling the early collaboration between the NFIU and Customs following the establishment of the financial intelligence agency.
“When NFIU was created, NCS was the first to collaborate with us. No particular agency understands things better than how Customs does globally,” he said.
The World Customs Organisation (WCO) Mentoring Team, led by Shahiduzzaman Sarkar, also engaged the agencies on strategies for addressing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT).
The team stressed the need for stronger collaboration with the NCS, noting the importance of coordinated institutional efforts in achieving the objectives of the initiative.
Discussions during the engagements identified communication gaps, bureaucratic bottlenecks and concerns surrounding database privacy as some of the challenges affecting effective inter-agency cooperation.
Participants also examined possible ways of addressing the identified obstacles, particularly through improved information exchange and stronger institutional coordination.
The engagements concluded with the presentation of NCS awards and WCO certificates to the participating agencies.
