On Nigeria Customs, Navy’s Collaboration against Smuggling
By Abdulsalam Mahmud
Smuggling is one of the deleterious activities killing Nigeria’s economic growth. But that is not all. It is also affecting the lives of many citizens, who consume or use contraband items illegally brought into the country.
In 2018, a report by the World Bank indicated that N1.45 trillion worth of different goods are annually smuggled into our dear country through Benin Republic alone. Economic experts have argued that smuggling is thriving in Nigeria because of differential tariffs or price disparities.
But cumbersome customs procedures, reluctance by traders to obtain quality standards and certifications, lack of competitive advantage in domestic products, and harsh economic conditions, as well as inadequate employment opportunities especially in border regions, are also there as factors boosting the smuggling crisis in most developing nations.
Smuggling, purely, is tax evasion. It is a menace that deprives the government of the much-needed revenue to provide social services and undertake development projects in any nation. Another thing smuggling does is to distort market prices, by often making contrabands and other illegally-imported goods cheaper than the ones supplied to markets through legal routes.
Equally, there is nothing that undermines the capacity and growth of local manufacturing industries than smuggling. This is just as patronizing substandard, expired and fake products hardly benefit the consumers or users.
Over the years, the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has displayed genuine commitment towards checkmating smugglers and their illicit business. Officers of the Service regularly arrest smugglers, while also impounding their contrabands. Deploying technological innovations, and forging collaboration with sister security agencies, the NCS has, in recent years, increased the tempo of the anti-smuggling war.
About a fortnight ago, the Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, was at the Naval Headquarters in Abuja, to strengthen collaboration between the Customs Service and the Nigerian Navy (NN).
Speaking at the occasion, Adeniyi reassured his commitment to enhancing the relationship between the two agencies for effective anti-smuggling strategies across Nigerian waterways. He stated, “It is important for us to participate in joint operations to combat smuggling activities. We also need to tap on the experience of the Nigerian Navy to enhance the capacity of personnel serving within the Customs Marine Units.”
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The Customs Chief said their NCS currently possesses ocean-going and creek-going vessels in its fleets, which they are planning to transport to the Nigerian Navy Dockyard for maintenance. “It is necessary for us to prioritize intelligence-driven operations. This could be achieved through intelligence sharing between the two agencies,” He emphasized.
While receiving his August visitor, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, expressed gratitude for the visit and underscored the Nigerian Navy’s commitment to assisting in enforcing Customs laws. He stressed the importance of reciprocal collaboration and assured that Nigerian Navy training facilities would be made available to the NCS at no cost.
Vice Admiral Ogalla also underscored the need for deeper collaboration with an outfit of the Nigerian Navy meant for clearing items imported by the agency to mitigate all encumbrances. He also shared a five-year-old Harmonized Standard Operating Procedure (HSOP) for monitoring maritime crimes and advocated for review considering the prevailing situation.
As a matter of fact, the meeting between Adeniyi and the Naval Chief is a bold step towards enhancing maritime security and curbing smuggling activities along Nigeria’s coastal waters. The commitment to collaboration and mutual support by the Customs and Navy, to add, clearly offers a precedent for future joint efforts in safeguarding the nation’s territorial integrity.
The efforts of the government too is vital to ending the smuggling crime in the country. The federal government in particular, should evolve robust measures for the patrol of the nation’s borders. If anything, there should be a tight surveillance at our entry and exit border checkpoints.
Another thing that will bolster the anti-smuggling war is the use of modern technology including Closed Circuit Television Cameras and satellite-based surveillance systems at the country’s borders. Equally, there is the need to ensure that border patrol officials who are mostly Customs officers are well-equipped, well-trained and well-remunerated to be able to discharge their duties effectively, and efficiently.
Adopting the carrot and stick approach, the Customs management should deem it necessary to recognize its hardworking and honest staff, while punishing the corrupt officials who connive with smugglers to kill Nigeria’s economy. Another thing that will boost the fight against the illegal importation of goods into our country is the strengthening of the special task force against smuggling comprising other security agencies.
More importantly, by eliminating unnecessary bureaucratic procedures, the government will help to facilitate legitimate trade, and discourage the hazardous business of smuggling by economic saboteurs.
*Mahmud is the Deputy Editor of PRNigeria, and wrote in via: [email protected].*
