The Nigerian government has welcomed the decision of the United States to impose sanctions on a Nigerian businessman, Mukhtar Adamu, and three bureau de change companies over their alleged involvement in financing the terrorist group Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
The sanctions were announced on Tuesday by the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which accused Mr Adamu, a Lagos-based bureau de change operator, of facilitating financial transactions and money transfers on behalf of ISWAP.
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OFAC also sanctioned Nine to Nine Exchange Bureau De Change Limited, Generation Currency Bureau De Change Limited, and Manhattan Bureau De Change Limited, alleging that the companies were owned, controlled, or directed by Mr Adamu and were used to move funds for the terrorist organisation.
According to the US agency, Mr Adamu played a significant role in ISWAP’s financial network by transferring funds through the bureau de change firms, helping the group move money that supported its operations. The sanctions block any property or interests belonging to the designated individuals and entities within the United States and generally prohibit U.S. persons from conducting transactions with them.
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In a statement on Wednesday, the Secretary of the Nigerian Sanctions Committee, Beatrice Jedy-Agba, said the US action followed Nigeria’s recent designation of Mr Adamu and two of the companies under its domestic sanctions regime.
Ms Jedy-Agba, who is also the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, stated that Nigeria added the individuals and entities to its sanctions list after extensive intelligence gathering, financial investigations and inter-agency assessments.
She explained that the investigations established reasonable grounds to believe that the affected individuals and entities facilitated, financed, supported or otherwise contributed to the activities of ISWAP and associated terrorist networks.
“These designations follow the inclusion of Adamu and his companies as part of a broader update to the Nigeria Sanctions List approved and published on 18th June 2026.
“The naming of the three companies and six persons followed extensive intelligence gathering, financial investigations, and inter-agency assessments which established reasonable grounds to believe that the affected individuals and entities facilitated, financed, supported or otherwise, contributed to the activities of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and associated terrorist networks,” she stated.
The individuals designated by Nigeria are Ibrahim Ogirima, Mukhtar Adamu, Adamu Chiroma, Ibrahim Abubakar, Abdullahi Usman and Babangida Hammajam.
The companies are Abbal Bako & Sons Bureau De Change Limited, Generation Currency BDC Limited and Nine to Nine BDC Limited.
Ms Jedy-Agba noted that the U.S. sanctions underscore growing international cooperation to disrupt financial networks that support terrorist organisations operating across Nigeria and the Lake Chad region.
She reiterated the government’s directive to financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions to comply fully with sanctions obligations, including asset-freezing measures, the filing of Suspicious Transaction Reports and the reporting of any matches involving designated persons or entities.
She also commended the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Office of the National Security Adviser, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the State Security Services, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit for their roles in the investigations and sanctions process.
“Nigeria remains resolute in its commitment to ensuring that terrorists and their financiers find no safe haven within the country’s financial system.
“The Government will continue to work closely with domestic stakeholders and international partners to protect national security, strengthen financial integrity and contribute to global efforts to combat terrorism and its financing,” she said.
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The affected individuals and companies had not publicly responded to the allegations as of the time of filing this report.
ISWAP, an offshoot of Boko Haram, remains one of the deadliest insurgent groups operating in Nigeria’s North-east and the wider Lake Chad Basin. Security experts have long identified the disruption of terrorist financing networks as a critical component of efforts to weaken the group’s operational capacity.
In recent years, Nigerian security agencies have intensified investigations into suspected terrorism financing, while the government has periodically expanded its sanctions list to freeze assets and restrict access to the financial system by individuals and entities linked to extremist groups. The latest U.S. sanctions add an international dimension to those efforts and signal growing scrutiny of financial channels suspected of supporting terrorist activities in the region.
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