The House of Representatives on Wednesday mandated its Committees on Customs and Excise, alongside Defence, to jointly investigate the operations and activities of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) across the nation’s borders over alleged complicity in aiding smuggling and involvement in brutality against Nigerians.
The House also directed the Committees on Defence as well as Customs and Excise to examine the role of military personnel attached to Customs patrols, ensuring their operations comply with legal frameworks and human rights standards.
The resolutions followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance by Rep. Sesi Whingan at plenary.
Moving his motion, Rep Whingan said that by virtue of Section 4 (b, e, and f) of the Nigeria Customs Service Act, 2023, the NCS is mandated to collect revenue, prevent smuggling and ensure the security of Nigeria’s borders.
- I inherited 70% idle young population –Zamfara Gov
- Suswan, Edeh pledge solar electricity for Benue varsity
The lawmaker, however, alleged that rather than preventing smuggling, recent reports showed that personnel of the Nigeria Customs Service across the borders were aiding and abetting smuggling.
He informed the House that a report by Sahara Reporters on November 18, 2024, exposed what he referred to as mass smuggling of over 2,000 cars carrying 6,500,000kg of rice through Badagry, allegedly under the watch of Customs officers.
He also said that videos published by an investigative journalist, Fisayo Soyombo, provided evidence of complicity by Customs officers in these illegal activities.
Whingan said besides the allegations of aiding smuggling, men of the Customs have been reported over cases of brutality against citizens who tried to document and expose their illegal activities.
He said reports of brutality have emerged, including an incident along the Badagry-Seme Expressway on December 1, 2024, where officers from the Customs Service, in collaboration with soldiers, allegedly assaulted two transporters, Taofeek Olatunbosun and Rafiu Abdelmalik.
“The victims were suspected of documenting smuggling activities, leading to threats against their lives and a standoff that required intervention from residents and police”, he said.
Continuing, the lawmaker said that smuggling has severe economic consequences, including undermining local industries, reducing government revenues, promoting unfair trade practices, and flooding markets with substandard and potentially harmful products.
He further said that the actions of some officers within the Customs Service contravene its core mandate, erode public trust and raise concerns about the oversight of joint security operations involving military personnel.
Customs mum
Efforts to get the reaction of the NCS, to the allegations and decision of the House, yesterday, were unsuccessful. Daily Trust reached out to the National Public Relations Officer of the Service, Abdullahi Maiwada, but he did not take the calls. He also did not respond to WhatsApp and SMS messages sent to him.
Smuggling persists despite multiple checkpoints
Continuing, the lawmaker lamented that despite the presence of multiple checkpoints during the day, particularly in Badagry and other border communities in the nation, economic activities and legitimate trade are paralysed by excessive scrutiny and alleged extortion by Customs officers and other law enforcement personnel.
He said: “At night, these same officers reportedly enable or turn a blind eye to rampant smuggling activities, undermining public trust and perpetuating economic hardship.”
He said small businesses such as rice farmers and poultry producers are unable to compete with the influx of contraband goods, leading to job losses and impoverishment.
Besides, the lawmaker lamented that “the erosion of law and order in border regions like Badagry threatens community stability, leaving citizens vulnerable and disillusioned.”
Brutality against citizens poses risk
The lawmaker also raised concerns that the alleged complicity of Customs officers in smuggling operations and the use of violence to intimidate civilians pose significant risks to national security, economic stability, and the rule of law.
He said the integrity of the NCS was essential for securing Nigeria’s borders, facilitating legitimate trade, and upholding the economic and social well-being of the nation.
The lawmaker said addressing the observed lapses was critical to restoring public confidence and ensuring the sovereignty of the country.
What the committees will do
The committees’ mandates include recommending appropriate measures to enhance oversight accountability, and efficiency within the Customs Service to restore public trust and safeguard Nigeria’s economic and national security interests.
The committees are to report back within six weeks for further legislative actions.
The move by the House is coming on the heels of reported cases of smuggling of goods and arms into the country through the borders.
There are reports that the alleged complicity of Customs personnel and other security forces manning the borders contribute to the high rate of smuggling activities in the country.
In February 2024, an investigative journalist with FIJ, Fisayo Soyombo, published an in-depth investigative report titled: “Undercover as a Smuggler”, suggesting complicity of Customs personnel in smuggling activities across the borders.
His investigation followed repeated complaints about the porosity of Nigeria’s borders. Soyombo, said he attempted to illegally import 100 bags of rice from the Republic of Benin into Nigeria.
Soyombo said he succeeded in doing so “without the faintest security resistance, working with information from greedy Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) bosses who betrayed patrol teams by updating smugglers on their colleagues’ itinerary and the days and times when the roads were free, and daredevil smugglers with insider knowledge of the forests, the roads and Customs officers.”
In the report, the investigative journalist stated how he was allegedly linked with some top smuggling kingpins with high connections with compromised top Customs officials, who allowed him to smuggle the said quantity of rice into the country after they had extorted him.
Young women quitting trading for rice smuggling
In June this year, Daily Trust had reported how young women, especially single mothers across the South West geopolitical zone of the country, were gradually abandoning petty trade to join the “booming business” of rice smuggling.
The women were involved in the smuggling of rice from the Republic of Benin into Nigeria through the numerous bush paths around the country’s porous borders with its western neighbour, bringing the produce into Lagos.
Some of the women moved to Lagos from other South West states and beyond to participate in the illegal venture.
During a visit to different shops and markets in Lagos, our correspondent saw most rice traders in the Alaba Rago and Daleko markets, both in Ojo and Mushin local government areas, selling smuggled rice openly.
The investigation report was conducted not long after the Nigeria Customs Service said it intercepted 222,285 bags of 50kg bags of foreign parboiled rice, equivalent to 370 trailer-loads from smugglers in less than three years, spanning September 2021 to April 2024.
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
