The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which oversees Nigeria’s capital market, has ordered the immediate freezing of assets belonging to 13 groups that are thought to be linked to financing terrorism.
The Nigeria Sanctions Committee added 10 people and three businesses to the Nigeria Sanctions List on April 13, 2026. This order affects those people and businesses.
The SEC said that all capital market operators must find and freeze any accounts, investments, or other financial assets that are linked to the listed companies.
They must also stop all transactions and tell the authorities about any findings or attempts to deal. The Commission said that not following the rules might lead to harsh civil and criminal sanctions.
The Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, supports the order. It says that assets linked to certain people or groups must be frozen without warning.
The law applies to both financial institutions and Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs).
Officials said the move is meant to stop terrorist groups like Boko Haram and its breakaway group, Islamic State West Africa Province, from getting money.
The Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal found some of the people involved guilty of supporting terrorism in 2019.
Investigators found that they sent roughly $782,000 from Dubai to Nigeria between 2015 and 2016 to help rebels.
Asset freezes, travel bans, and arms embargoes are some of the measures that have been put in place.
The SEC also told market operators to make their compliance systems stronger, including real-time screening and reporting, in line with Nigeria’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) framework.
The most recent step comes after a new sanctions list that is said to include dozens of people and businesses thought to be funding terrorist groups that operate in Nigeria.
Regulators argue that enforcing the rules is very important for keeping the financial system safe and for keeping Nigeria’s good name with international groups like the Financial Action Task Force.
The SEC told stakeholders to look over the full list of sanctions and make sure they were followed. They stressed that the financial system should not be used to fund terrorism in any way.
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