The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS has moved to strengthen intelligence sharing and joint operations with six federal agencies to tackle cross-border money laundering, illicit financial flows, terrorism financing, drug trafficking and other financial crimes.
The initiative followed a three-day engagement held from October 27 to 29, 2026, led by the Assistant Comptroller-General in charge of Headquarters, Muhammad Shuaibu.
The participating agencies were the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, Nigeria Immigration Service and the National Counter-Terrorism Centre under the Office of the National Security Adviser.
Shuaibu said the engagement was aimed at improving coordination among institutions responsible for addressing threats to Nigeria’s economy and national security.
He explained that the exercise would include visits to selected border stations to assess Customs control measures and strengthen cooperation with relevant agencies in detecting and disrupting illicit financial flows.
The Chief Executive Officer of the NFIU, represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Intelligence Security Service Sector, Muhammed-Mustapha, commended Customs for its role in combating smuggling and strengthening border security.
Mustapha also acknowledged the longstanding working relationship between both institutions, noting that the NCS was the first agency to collaborate with the NFIU when it was established.
The World Customs Organisation Mentoring Team, led by Shahiduzzaman Sarkar, also engaged the agencies on strategies for strengthening anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures.
Participants identified communication gaps, bureaucratic procedures and concerns over database privacy as some of the challenges limiting effective information sharing among agencies.
The discussions focused on addressing these obstacles and improving institutional cooperation in tackling financial crimes and other cross-border threats.
The engagements also featured the presentation of NCS awards and WCO certificates to participating agencies as part of efforts to recognise and encourage inter-agency collaboration.