Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has slammed an immediate asset freeze on 13 entities—10 individuals and three companies - designated as terrorism financiers by the Nigeria Sanctions Committee (NSC), tightening the noose on illicit funds flowing through the capital market.
Anchored on Section 49 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, the sweeping directive mandates Capital Market Operators (CMOs) to freeze all linked funds, assets, and resources without notice, halt transactions, and report suspicious activities to the NSC Secretariat and Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.
It extends to Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs), enforcing travel bans, arms embargoes, and real-time screening via trading systems.
Several designees were convicted by Abu Dhabi’s Federal Court of Appeal in April 2019 for channeling funds from Dubai to Boko Haram operations, with sentences spanning 10 years to life imprisonment—exposing how corporate shells launder terror cash into Nigeria.
This echoes prior NSC actions, like the 2024 designations of figures such as Adamu Hassan and Adamu Ishak for arms supply and financing in northern conflicts.
The preventive clampdown disrupts entrenched Boko Haram/ISWAP funding webs reliant on smuggling, extortion, crypto, and black markets across Nigeria’s borders, where insurgents tax local trade to bankroll violence.
SEC vows zero tolerance for AML/CFT breaches, warning of civil, criminal sanctions, and global credibility hits for laggards—bolstering Nigeria’s fight against terror finance.
