Lead the terror finance crackdown

On June 22, 2026, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned a Lagos-based Bureau de Change (BDC) operator and three Nigerian allied firms, among three individuals and six entities, for terrorism financing worldwide. The sanctions were part of a broader crackdown targeting individuals and companies across Europe, the Middle East, and West Africa moving funds across borders for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) fully backed the U.S. sanctions, with the CBN directing all banks to immediately freeze all assets and bank accounts linked to the sanctioned individuals and businesses.

But this is not the first time the U.S. has sanctioned Nigerian nationals and companies over terrorism financing. In February 2026, the OFAC imposed sanctions on eight Nigerians accused of operational and financial ties to Boko Haram, ISIL, and transnational cybercrime networks. In March 2022, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned a network of six Nigerian individuals who were previously convicted in the UAE for establishing a Boko Haram cell to raise and transfer funds to insurgents in Nigeria.

Earlier, in September 2021, the UAE Cabinet released a sweeping terrorism watch list designating 38 individuals and 15 entities as terrorism supporters, including six Nigerians who were tried and convicted in Abu Dhabi for transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars to Boko Haram.

The Nigerian government has also released lists of terrorism financiers on two primary occasions, in addition to broader intelligence disclosures. For example, in April 2026, the Nigeria Sanctions Committee (NIGSAC) published a list containing 48 individuals and 12 entities linked to groups such as ISWAP, Ansaru, and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Daily Trust joins the Nigeria Sanctions Committee, the NFIU, and well-meaning Nigerians in welcoming the recent U.S. imposition of sanctions on the Nigerian and the three entities. But we are worried by the reactive posture of Nigerian institutions, as it took the U.S. announcement for the CBN to direct banks to freeze accounts and report suspicious transactions. This should not be the case, as there are already subsisting and functional laws, rules, and regulations domiciled with the Federal Ministry of Justice (FMoJ), Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Department of State Services (DSS), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), and other agencies, begging for implementation.

We believe that if institutions of state are proactive in accordance with their mandates, every illicit financial transaction should ordinarily elicit an automatic red flag requiring further investigation, in line with frameworks such as those of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which promote transparency and action against terror financing.

It is unfortunate that the Nigerian government and relevant agencies have not done a good job of exploring all avenues to unearth sponsors of terror. This lack of the needed seriousness is best illustrated by the U.S. announcement that, during its recent coordinated airstrikes and ground operations targeting ISIS hideouts, logistics bases, and operational infrastructure in the Lake Chad Basin, over 200 terrorists were eliminated, including ISIS leader Abu-Bilal al-Minuki. The operations also led to the seizure of the largest cache of enemy electronic materials and other equipment since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Yet, not much has been heard of any raid breaching terrorist or enemy territories by Nigerian forces, or the capture of any relevant materials that could help in the search for their financiers.

It is a shame and a slap in the face of Nigeria and its security forces that the U.S. is taking the lead in the race to expose and sanction financiers of the terrorism ravaging the nation’s landscape.

Therefore, Daily Trust calls on intelligence and other relevant institutions to discard any semblance of reluctance and perform their duties without waiting for fresh directives. For example, Section 54 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, requires all financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions to, under subsection (a), immediately identify and freeze, without prior notice, all funds, assets, and any other economic resources belonging to designated persons and entities in their possession and report same to the Secretariat of the Nigeria Sanctions Committee.

We insist that there must be no laissez-faire attitude towards ensuring routine monitoring of all illicit financial flows, including cutting off terrorists’ reliance on cash from kidnapping for ransom, informal trade, local extortion, and illegal mining.

We at Daily Trust believe that Nigeria has the human and other resources to lead robust investigations in collaboration with foreign partners, as the responsibility for fighting terrorism and its sponsors lies squarely with Nigeria and its institutions. We do not need the U.S. government or any of its agencies to wake us up to uphold our primary responsibilities. There is no gainsaying that strong and aggressive domestic investigations help to disrupt terror financing and choke terrorists’ financial supply lines.

Therefore, it is time for coordinated, proactive, and uncompromising investigations and the unveiling of the faces behind the money flow. Towards this end, we expect the next batch of investigations, arrests, and sanctions announcements to result from painstaking efforts by Nigerian institutions, as this will invariably earn the trust of ordinary citizens.

Furthermore, the President must demand periodic and measurable results from relevant institutions, as cutting off terror financiers’ lifelines, both within and outside Nigeria, is a major plank in defeating terrorism because it will help shut down avenues for generating and funding attacks. All such funding channels must be dismantled and permanently blocked. The Nigerian government should also deploy every diplomatic and legal tool to hold terrorist groups and their supporters accountable.

Moreover, we call for the maximum deployment of the willpower of the Nigerian state in making an open show of all sponsors of terrorism and their criminal allies. This is imperative to demonstrate that there is an evidence-based strategy to win the battle against terrorism, its sponsors, and its fighters. In this fight, there should be no lethargy and no sacred cows. All implementation gaps within the nation’s financial system should be plugged, and every effort made to ensure that the financial management and accountability system is transparent. This is the way to go.

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