Juwe Oluwafemi
It is becoming apparent that anti-smuggling activities in the country are being frustrated by the conspiracy of the elite class
Recently, Nigeria’s high commissioner to Ghana, Musiliu Obanikoro, decried the reappearance of multiple security check points along the Agbara-Badagry-Seme route. Obanikoro, who described the situation as “frustrating” and “uncalled for,” said the multiple check-points have created hostility from the borders of other ECOWAS countries towards Nigeria, and thus greatly affected trade facilitation.
According to him, “checkpoints from Seme Border to Mile 2 are more than 40, and this is very frustrating when officers who are supposed to facilitate trade suddenly turn to stumbling blocks. With this, we cannot promote trade along the corridors of ECOWAS and it is unfortunate.”
Statutorily, both the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Nigeria Immigration Service are mandated to keep our borders safe, especially against smuggling and other unwholesome activities. In an effort to tackle the menace, government has periodically introduced and reviewed various efforts targeted at meeting with contemporary trends. Regrettably, these efforts have been rendered ineffective due to a myriad of factors which the country continues to contend with.
That smuggling is increasingly costing the Nigerian state hugely, is no longer debatable. What is more worrying is that the goods being smuggled in are substandard. This situation has certainly had a destabilizing effect on local industries, as their products are unable to compete with smuggled goods, price-wise.
Smuggling, though obviously destructive to the nation’s economy, and the people’s health because of the poor quality of the goods being smuggled in, has become so profitable that the elites and powerbrokers in the society can no longer take their hands off it. Why? Smuggling involves big money, big risks, and only the ‘big’ names in the society can venture into it. The poor cannot raise the money needed to travel to another country, buy goods in large quantities and bribe their way back into the country, coupled with the high risk of losing their consignments if they miscalculate and travel on a ‘wrong’ day. Evidently, smuggling involves high net-worth individuals who are sacred cows. Culpable Customs officials are also not arrested because they serve as channels for many bigwigs who merely use them to carry out their smuggling activities.
This explains why several investigation and probe panels in this country always hit a brick wall and are therefore never successfully concluded. It also explains why most times, those who serve on the probe panels soon become haunted and endangered.
Public officials who ought to exhibit the highest level of accountability and responsibility are seen to openly disregard the corporate interest of the country they claim to serve, in pursuit of filthy lucre. It is largely believed that there is no political will to fight smuggling, as the fear of stepping on the toes of some so-called sacred cows remains a barrier against any serious official anti-smuggling campaign. To strengthen the combat-readiness of the two paramilitary agencies- NCS and NIS, government introduced joint patrol of the two agencies with the Nigeria Police and the military. However, corruption among border officials has greatly weakened their anti-smuggling efforts, as money often exchange hands to give smuggled goods a smooth passage into the shores of Nigeria.
The military and paramilitary authorities even constituted monitoring teams to “watch over” the patrol teams. Today, the situation with patrol on our borders leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Agreed, some officers implicated in bribery may have been sacked, and Comptrollers of Customs in Federal Operations Units regularly rotate officials and frustrate smugglers through massive seizures and destruction of smuggled goods; the truth remains however, that there are still massive insider dealings going on at these border points.
The involvement of military personnel in smuggling and oil bunkering activities regrettably complicates the enforcement of laws against these practices. For instance, it has become commonplace to find uniformed men escorting vehicles carrying smuggled goods into the country. The government has yet to figure out what punitive measures should be taken against these officers found performing illegal duties. Most worrisome, the country lacks a government with the strong political will to fight smuggling. Openly implicated and even indicted officials of the various government agencies still remain in office.
Smuggling, it is believed, will keep thriving if government refuses to wield the big stick against the various shades of smugglers, and flush out smuggled goods by tracing them to the counters, shops and markets across the country. If the war against smuggling merely stops at the borders, smugglers would do all in their power to get the goods into the country through the many unmanned borders which exist. But once they realise that smuggled goods would continue to be monitored, even on the counters and shelves where they are displayed for sale across the country, perpetrators would be discouraged. To this extent, the prohibition list, it has been argued, should be strictly enforced at all times and in all parts of the country.
