ON THE OVERZEALOUSNESS OF THE NIGERIA CUSTOMS OFFICIALS... By Zik Gbemre

On Duty.

"The normalized practice of the Nigerian Customs officials invading markets to seize contraband goods, having compromised in their duties and allowed them into the country in the first place, is barbaric and abnormal".

"The Nigerian Customs duties are at the nation’s Ports and Borders and not Markets".

"Nigerian Customs officials should not add to the present insecurity crises in the country with their sharp practices".

When I recently saw reports that officials of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) have invaded Oja Oba market in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, and carted away eight truckloads of rice, I could not help but wonder why should Customs officials be invading markets to seize supposed contraband goods they considered as being smuggled? We are told that this invasion is coming one month after the Customs invaded Bodija market and carted away some bags of rice.

Now the question is, who man the borders and all entry points to the country to regulate goods that enter the country at the land borders, international airports and sea ports? Whose duty it is to ensure that contraband goods do not find their way into the country in the first place? If that is the duty of the Nigerian Customs, and yet such goods find their way into the country, then something is seriously wrong somewhere. Are the men and officers of the Nigerian Customs not ashamed that they have ‘deliberately’ allowed dangerous weapons, bombs and ammunitions to enter the country through their border posts, which the Boko Haram sect, Fulani herdsmen, kidnappers and unknown gun men are now using to kill innocent Nigerians and daily make life miserable for all?

It is no news that Nigerian Customs are known to have formed the habitual practice of collecting bribes/kickbacks from Nigerian and foreign businessmen/women to allow them continue importing fake and contraband goods into the country. How else would we explain the fact that, despite the usual Federal Government directives banning the importation of such goods, we still find them flooding the Nigerian Markets. It simply suggests that along the line, those responsible for regulating/controlling the inflow of such goods, must have compromised one way or the other. The Nigerian Customs officials are still the same people who allow these goods to enter the country after collecting tips from the smugglers, and then they now turn back to invade markets and seize such goods.

This is not only primitive and should not be allowed to happen in this 21st century, but also, it depicts the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government as becoming more of a dictatorial administration. This issue has become a normal practice by the Nigerian Customs, and it has to stop!

A recent online report by SaharaTV, noted that: “With just N5,000 Per Vehicle, Nigerian Customs Officials Make At Least N2Million Everyday Collecting Bribes From Smugglers At Land Border in Oyo State. The report was actually a live footage that was recorded without the knowledge of these officials, who were seen in the said video allowing vehicles that were loaded with all kinds of goods, to pass the land Border into Nigeria without being checked.  It doesn’t matter what the smugglers have in their vehicles, once they can afford N5,000 they are cleared to enter Nigeria. And we wonder why security is at the lowest ebb. The saddest part is that if one should take the said footage to the relevant Authorities for actions to be taken, nothing will be done since they are all involved in the corruption. Which is why this problem has continued to linger.

Few years ago, I remember how human and vehicular traffic along Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway was paralyzed, as rioting youths and rice sellers in the popular Sango-Ota market in Lagos, protested against invasion of the market by Officials of the Nigerian Customs who were accompanied by masked soldiers. The protest, which led to the blockade of the main road before the bridge at Sango-Ota in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Council of Ogun State, was blamed on the Customs Officials who invaded the market in the early hours of the said day, broke into stalls and forcefully carted away bags of rice into their vehicles.

This led to angry traders and hoodlums to have barricaded the ever-busy expressway for more than nine hours. The rampage left many motorists and commuters stranded, while some made efforts to ply alternative routes. It was reported that men of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) of the Nigerian Customs were the ones who swooped on the popular market and confiscated about seven truckloads of rice and 43 kegs of vegetable oil allegedly smuggled into the country. According to the Customs, estimated value of duties payable on the items was N12,445,250 back then. But according to an eyewitness, the Customs Officers came in five Toyota Hilux fully armed and masked soldiers to carry out the operation. It was gathered that the Customs Officers, who were accompanied by masked soldiers, shot repeatedly as they broke into over one hundred shops. Some of the traders accused the Customs Officers of not only breaking into their shops to cart away bags of rice, but also made away with millions of naira, which were reportedly kept in some of the shops’ safe.

The bottom line is that the Nigerian Customs should not add to the present insecurity crises in the country. They have no business in going to the markets. They should remain at all the exit and entry points in the country and do their jobs. President Buhari should call the Nigeria Customs officials to order and concentrate on solving the problem of insecurity in the country.

It is inappropriate for the Nigerian Customs to start invading/raiding markets to seize contraband goods, after they must have collected bribes from smugglers of such goods into the country at the Seaports and Borders. The overzealousness of Nigerian Custom Officials in this regard, is simply hinged on the fact that they want to impress the Presidency by creating the impression that they are working – when such goods are seized through any means necessary. But what they fail to also tell the Federal Government, which they would never do - how they also collect bribes/kickbacks from these smugglers of contraband goods.

Aside this, the crux of the matter is that the Nigerian Customs should concentrate and focus on their statutory duties at the nation’s Seaports, International Airports, and Land Borders, so that they can ‘prevent illegal/contraband goods’ from entering the country in the first place. Rather than compromising their duties and allowing these goods to find their way into the country, only to later go about harassing poor-hustling market women. The Nigerian Customs duties are at the nation’s Seaports, International Airports and Land Borders and not Markets.

To this end, the Nigerian Customs Officials should be warned and issued a directive by the Presidency, to stop invading/forcefully entering Markets to harass business men and women who are struggling to make ends meet. The Nigerian Customs Officials are simply becoming too overzealous and there is expedient need for the Presidency to call them to order to stop this arbitrary practice of invading Markets.

_*Zik Gbemre.*_

_*September 10, 2021*_

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