The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ordered operators in Nigeria’s capital market to immediately identify and freeze funds, assets and other economic resources connected to a Nigerian individual and three companies recently sanctioned by the United States Government over alleged financial links to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and ISIS-West Africa.
The directive was issued in a circular titled “Notice of Sanction”, published on the SEC’s website and addressed to all Capital Market Regulated Entities (CMREs).
Under the order, regulated entities must freeze the affected assets without prior notice and report their actions to the Secretariat of the Nigeria Sanctions Committee.
The individual named in the sanctions is Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad, also known as Mukhtar Adamu and Muhammad Mukhtar.
The three sanctioned companies are Generation Currency Bureau De Change Limited, Manhattan Bureau De Change Limited and Nine to Nine Exchange Bureau De Change Limited.
The SEC directed capital market operators to immediately identify and freeze any funds, assets or other economic resources belonging to the designated individual or companies that are under their control.
Operators must also provide reports detailing the assets frozen, measures taken to comply with the sanctions and any attempted transactions involving the sanctioned parties.
The commission further instructed regulated entities to promptly submit suspicious transaction reports to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) for further review of financial activities involving the designated individual and companies.
The SEC also directed operators to report any name matches discovered in financial transactions, regardless of whether the transactions took place before or after the sanctions list was received.
CMREs were additionally ordered to cease transactions with the sanctioned individual and companies and maintain continuous monitoring of activities involving them.
The results of the monitoring exercise must be submitted to the Nigeria Sanctions Committee through info@nigsac.gov.ng.
The SEC said the directive takes immediate effect, warning that failure to comply would amount to a breach of the Investments and Securities Act, 2025, and the commission’s Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Rules and Regulations.
According to the commission, operators that fail to comply could face regulatory measures including fines, suspension of operations or revocation of their registration.
The directive underscores the growing efforts by Nigerian regulators to prevent the country’s financial and capital market systems from being used to facilitate terrorism financing, money laundering and other forms of illicit financial activity.
