The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), in collaboration with the Global Center on Cooperative Security (GCCS), has commenced a two-day workshop to sensitise civil aviation stakeholders on measures to curb illicit financial flows and strengthen compliance with requirements governing the cross-border movement of currency and other monetary instruments.
The workshop is being delivered under GCCS’s Nigeria Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Technical Assistance Program, generously funded by the United States Department of State, which supports Nigerian authorities in strengthening capacity to detect, investigate, and prosecute terrorism financing.
The workshop, which commenced on Monday, 17 August 2026, in Lagos, brings together key civil aviation stakeholders, including representatives of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), airlines, ground-handling companies, cargo operators and other industry stakeholders.
The engagement also brings together relevant government and financial security agencies, including the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), as well as the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA).
Declaring the workshop open, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, represented by the Customs Area Controller, Murtala Muhammed International Airport Command, Comptroller Chidi Nwokorie, said the Service remained committed to strengthening implementation of Nigeria’s Cross-Border Currency Declaration Regime.
“The movement of currency across an international border is not, in itself, a crime. Legitimate businesses and individuals move funds for legitimate purposes. What the law requires is transparency and compliance with established declaration requirements,” he said.
Comptroller Nwokorie stressed that enforcement measures should not be misconstrued as barriers to legitimate commercial activities or international travel, noting that the Service’s objective was to maintain an appropriate balance between trade facilitation and effective enforcement.
Speaking earlier, the Director of Finance at the Global Center on Cooperative Security (GCCS), Daniel Grimshaw, said the training formed part of broader efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to prevent the misuse of cross-border channels for terrorism financing and other forms of illicit financial activity.
“Aviation, by its very nature, can be an attractive channel for those seeking to move value quickly. That is precisely why your understanding of, and compliance with, the new digital declaration system and the broader legal framework is very important,” he said.
The two-day engagement is expected to strengthen participants’ understanding of the digital currency declaration system, improve compliance, and deepen coordination and public-private engagement in addressing illicit financial flows through Nigeria’s international borders.
The workshop forms part of ongoing cooperation between the Nigeria Customs Service and GCCS under the Nigeria AML/CFT Technical Assistance Program