The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has enhanced collaboration with six federal agencies to combat cross-border financial crimes, drug trafficking, and terrorism financing.
The initiative aims to enhance intelligence sharing, inter-agency coordination, and border security to safeguard Nigeria’s economy and national security.
The agencies include the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
Others are the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and the National Counter-Terrorism Centre within the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
NCS Spokesperson Abdullahi Maiwada announced this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja. ja.
Maiwada said Muhammad Shuaibu, Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs (Headquarters), announced the initiative after a recent meeting with the agencies.
Shuaibu stated that the collaboration aims to strengthen strategic partnerships, intelligence sharing, and inter-agency coordination to address threats to Nigeria’s economy and national security.
“The sole objective of this mission is to detect and disrupt cross-border illicit financial flows effectively,” he said.
He noted that the measures include field visits to selected border stations to assess Customs operations and engage relevant agencies.
Hafsat Bakari, Chief Executive Officer of the NFIU, commended Customs for its efforts to combat smuggling and enhance border security.
Bakari, represented by Mohammed Mustapha, Chief Operating Officer, Intelligence Security Service Sector, described the relationship between the two institutions as longstanding.
She noted that Customs was one of the first agencies to collaborate with the NFIU after its establishment.
She said: “When NFIU was created, NCS was the first to collaborate with us.
“No particular agency understands things better than how Customs does globally.”
A World Customs Organisation (WCO) mentoring team, led by Shahiduzzaman Sarkar, engaged participating agencies on strengthening Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) measures.s.
The team also called for closer collaboration with Customs to ensure the initiative’s success.
Participants identified communication gaps, bureaucratic bottlenecks, and database privacy concerns as challenges to effective inter-agency cooperation.
They also discussed measures to address these challenges and improve information sharing and institutional collaboration.
The initiative demonstrates the NCS’s commitment to strengthening partnerships against financial crimes and activities that threaten Nigeria’s economic stability and national security.
The engagement also included the presentation of NCS awards and WCO certificates to participating agencies in recognition of their collaboration.ion.
