Customs and the New Export Point Guidelines
By Abdulsalam Mahmud,
History shows that nations rarely lose their resources overnight. They lose them gradually, quietly, and often through gaps so normalised that they stop being noticed. In Nigeria’s petroleum economy, those gaps have long existed at the margins, where borders blur, oversight weakens, and domestic supply quietly slips away.
For years, petroleum products meant for Nigerian homes, industries and transport corridors found their way across borders under the cover of poor coordination, weak intelligence sharing and fragmented enforcement. What was lost was not only revenue, but confidence in the state’s ability to protect its own energy lifeline.
It is against this background that the renewed collaboration between the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) must be understood. Not as a routine interagency meeting, but as a deliberate attempt to close old loopholes and define new rules in an era of changing energy realities.
When the Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, received the Executive Director of Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure at NMDPRA, Ogbugo Ukoha, at the Customs House in Maitama on 9 December 2025, the conversation went beyond protocol. It touched the core of how Nigeria intends to manage its petroleum future.
At the heart of that engagement was a simple but consequential question: as Nigeria expands its refining capacity and moves steadily toward becoming a petroleum exporter, how does it prevent yesterday’s failures from sabotaging tomorrow’s gains?
For Customs, the answer lies in structure, clarity and cooperation. CGC Adeniyi made it clear that the Service is fully aligned with reforms in the petroleum regulatory space, particularly those aimed at defining export points and tightening control over product movement.
His position was unambiguous. Petroleum products meant for domestic consumption must remain within Nigeria’s borders, while exports must flow only through clearly designated, well-regulated channels. Anything else, he suggested, invites disorder.
This clarity is not theoretical. It is built on experience. The Customs boss pointed to Operation Whirlwind, the joint enforcement initiative between Customs and NMDPRA, as proof that coordinated intelligence, shared responsibility and field-level cooperation can produce real results.
Operation Whirlwind changed the tone of petroleum enforcement. It replaced isolated seizures with coordinated operations, lone agency action with shared accountability. Border corridors that once thrived on ambiguity began to feel the weight of surveillance.
For Ukoha, that operation remains the high point of interagency collaboration in the sector. It demonstrated that when Customs officers and petroleum regulators operate from the same intelligence page, diversion becomes harder, riskier and less profitable.
But enforcement alone, both men acknowledged, is not enough. The next phase requires rules that are clear enough to guide operators, firm enough to deter abuse, and flexible enough to reflect operational realities. This is where the new export point guidelines come in.
According to Ukoha, the NMDPRA is developing a framework that clearly defines where petroleum exports can occur, how they are monitored, and which institutions play what roles at each stage. The Authority is not working in isolation.
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It is engaging Customs, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, and the Nigerian Navy, among others, to ensure the guidelines do not collapse under real-world pressures. This inclusive approach matters. Export points are not just geographic locations; they are intersections of finance, security, trade facilitation and regulatory authority.
Any guideline that ignores one of these dimensions risks failure. For Customs, export point clarity is also a border management issue. Adeniyi stressed that as Nigeria transitions from a net importer to an emerging exporter of petroleum products, border control must evolve from reactive policing to structured facilitation backed by intelligence.
In practical terms, this means Customs providing technical input, operational feedback and on-ground experience to ensure that export procedures are enforceable, transparent and resistant to manipulation. The CGC was careful to frame Customs’ role not as obstructionist, but as protective.
The Service, he said, welcomes initiatives that strengthen energy security and ensure that hard-won gains against cross-border diversion are not reversed. This balance between facilitation and protection defines the current moment. Nigeria wants to export more, earn more and attract investment, but not at the cost of domestic scarcity or renewed smuggling.
Ukoha acknowledged that policy shifts have already changed behaviour. The removal of fuel subsidy, he noted, significantly reduced the economic incentive for cross-border diversion, making enforcement more effective. Yet he was also clear-eyed. Markets adjust, incentives return in new forms, and vigilance must remain constant.
That is why properly regulated export points are essential, not optional. The joint field operations, including the launch of Operation Whirlwind in Yola, were reminders that enforcement presence matters. When agencies show up together, borders behave differently.
Beyond seizures and patrols, what is unfolding is a deeper institutional alignment. Customs is positioning itself not merely as an enforcement body, but as a partner in economic regulation and national planning. This shift reflects a broader evolution within the Service itself. Modern Customs administrations are judged not only by what they stop, but by how well they enable legitimate trade while protecting national interest.
The new export point guidelines sit squarely within this evolution. They are about drawing lines clearly, so that compliance becomes easier than circumvention. For Nigeria, the stakes are high. Petroleum exports, if poorly regulated, can undermine domestic supply, distort markets and fuel insecurity. If well managed, they can stabilise revenue, strengthen credibility and support economic transition.
That is why CGC Adeniyi’s emphasis on transparency and stakeholder confidence matters. Export systems must be predictable enough for investors and strict enough to deter opportunism. The collaboration with NMDPRA signals that Nigeria is learning from its past. That leakage is not just a technical failure, but an institutional one.
As the guidelines near implementation, their success will depend less on how beautifully they are written and more on how faithfully they are enforced across borders, terminals and corridors. Customs, with its reach and experience, sits at the centre of that enforcement architecture. In the end, what is emerging is a new understanding of borders.
Not as porous lines to be exploited, but as managed spaces where national interest is actively protected. Customs and the new export point guidelines are, therefore, not just about petroleum. They are about control, credibility and the quiet discipline of governance in a sector that has too often thrived on disorder. And for once, Nigeria appears determined to get it right.
Mahmud, Deputy Editor of PRNigeria, wrote in via: [email protected].
