Guardian Nigeria
Seme, a boundary settlement between Nigeria and the neighbouring Benin Republic, is an entry and exit point for citizens of both countries and others who ply the route. But beyond that, large-scale legal and illegal trade is going on there daily. ALBERT UBA who was there for two days, returned with details of how security operatives that are manning the border connive with smugglers to ferry in contraband goods into the country at the expense of the nation’s economy
Seme community, a border settlement between Nigeria and neighbouring Benin Republic is on the outskirts of Lagos State, just like Shaki in Oyo State, Idi Iroko in Ogun State, and Jibiya in Katsina State. It is a community of no fewer than 1,500 residents mainly from the Benin Republic and has a blend of traders, transporters, smugglers, oil thieves, touts, drug peddlers, government officials, and tourists.
These classes of people who mix daily in the community have ensured that as small as it is, Seme doesn’t sleep literally speaking.
Seme border could be accessed through two legal routes – the Badagry-Mile 2 Expressway, and by sea through Badagry waters. However, several illegal routes are being exploited daily by smugglers who ship all manner of goods into Nigeria without paying commensurate duties to them.
More often than not, these goods are prohibited items, with some expired. Unarguably, this has in no small measure impacted negatively on the socio-economic status of the nation and its citizenry.
In 2005, the then Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the late Tafa Balogun, took a tour of the border town following a sharp increase in trans-border crimes and declared that there were over 700 illegal routes between Seme and Idi Iroko, which also borders the Benin Republic. However, findings have shown that the number could have risen given the volume of illegal activities going on at the Seme border currently.
When The Guardian visited the area recently, over 20 security agencies were manning the border point. The Police Highway Patrol had about two teams stationed at various points. There were operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA); the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Port Health Services, Anti Bomb Squad, and more. The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has two major checkpoints, but the most rigorous was the one in Gbagi.
Here, a thin rope, sticks, clubs, stones and drums, bamboo sticks, used tyres, and nail-studded planks placed across the dilapidated access road is what indicates the border between the two countries. However, human movement is unrestricted. Petty traders, food sellers, bureau de change operators, and scouts (fronts for the smugglers or Customs officers) crisscrossed the border with ease.
At one of the checkpoints, a worn-out patrol van with the inscription Fara-Seme Border 02 patrol was parked. Another fairly used Customs operational van with plate number CS149 was also parked nearby, with operatives dashing from one vehicle to another while barking out “open your booth, wetin you carry” orders to the drivers.
The Guardian’s two-day stay at the border town showed that the number of security personnel at the border was inadequate and smugglers capitalised on the shortfall to perpetrate their inglorious businesses. Nevertheless, the brazen manner in which smugglers carried out their nefarious activities at the border gave out the few law enforcement agents at the various duty posts as compromised.
“Settlement is the key word here,” a smuggler unwittingly told The Guardian. “Once you declare what you are smuggling and you settle, you would not be arrested. Settlement, as I said, is the understanding word here.”
Mustapha is a popular “small-scale smuggler” who is reputed for being able to smuggle over 100 bags of rice daily to Nigeria through any of the illegal routes. He proudly told The Guardian while relaxing with a glass of cold beer, by 11.00 pm, in one of the popular joints in the community that he has been in the business for about 15 years.
“I dey carry the rice two or three bags at a time because Customs no dey worry if na one or two bags you bring come. But before the day go end, I dey carry about 100 bags using different routes and bush paths to enter Nigeria. I don dey smuggle for about 15 years now. I take this work build house for Akesan, for Lagos, Nigeria and for Benin Republic sef. I dey build another one now for Ghana,” Mustapha revealed in pidgin English.
As he waited for the right time to smuggle his consignment of gods into Nigeria, a smuggler, who simply identified himself as Kofi, was also at the joint, which is situated along Ogolonto Zanga Road, that night. He ferries cartons of tomato pastes, salad creams, baked beans, different kinds of soaps, various body and hair creams, corned beef and sardines, and assorted milk, among other goods, into Nigeria via some of the illegal routes.
According to Kofi, the timing was of the essence. “This is very important. One has to know the right time to move in the goods, or risks getting arrested. You may settle tour way out, but if your timing is not perfect, operatives from the Federal Operation Unit (FOU), Ikeja, may replace the Customs officers that you settled. So, we too monitor the officers; we know them, and they too know us,” he disclosed.
Like Kofi, another smuggler, Hadi, was also at the joint bidding for time. At midnight, the joint was filled with all manner of characters, including traders scouting for smugglers to move in their goods at the right price. There were also those looking for goods to purchase at cheap rates, just as there were loaders, cab drivers, truck drivers, cart pushers, and, of course, women of easy virtue looking for patronage.
However, one striking observation at this scene of unholy transactions was that men of the NCS did not directly collect “settlements” from the smugglers. They had negotiators at the joint. The Guardian scooped that some of the undercover negotiators were retired Customs personnel and well-known smugglers who had the network to approach Customs officers at the various checkpoints and negotiate for the passage of prohibited goods.
Nigeria remains the giant of Africa and a major contributor to the economic growth and development of other African states, particularly the West African sub-region. A slight dent in the economy of the country significantly affects the socio-economic well-being of its neighbours. The nation’s economic policy, to a large extent, determines the economic stability of its neighbours.
For instance, a few years back when the case of the notorious Benin Republic-based Chadian born cross border armed robber, Hamani Tdjani, became a torn in the flesh of Nigeria, then President Olusegun Obasanjo, ordered the immediate closure of Seme and the Idiroko border posts. A police officer, who was among the team that enforced the closure, had disclosed that the assignment opened his eyes to the relevance of the Nigerian economy to other African economies.
He said: “My assignment to enforce the closure of the border posts by President Olusegun Obasanjo made it clear to me to a very large extent that most African countries, especially those in the West Africa sub-region depend on Nigeria as their mainstay. Their economy is very dependent on this country. I saw people from neighbouring countries going the whole length and making extra efforts to beat the tight security that we put in place to enter this country for their daily survival.”
It is common knowledge that Benin Republic, Togo, and until recently, Ghana largely depend on Nigeria for their gasoline needs. The product is smuggled with a specially designed scooper (motorcycle) through Badagry and several other illegal routes, including Whispering Palm Beach, Araromi Ale, Magbon, Morogbo, and Gbagi.
Further checks revealed that oil marketers in active connivance with Customs officers and a few policemen from the Joint Border Patrol, after receiving bribes, allow fuel tankers to move at night in a long convoy across the border into the neighbouring countries. There are also effective fuel smuggling routes through the sea. Specially built heavy-duty engine boats are usually loaded with hundreds of plastic jerry cans of 50-litre size containing petroleum products, and ferried to Benin, Togo, and Ghana.
Investigations also revealed that the Customs officials posted to Seme Command work very hard to meet the revenue target given to the command by the Federal Government in the first quarter of the year.
Sources told The Guardian that once they are close to meeting the target, they “go to sleep and allow smugglers a free hand to operate.”
A source at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) at the border post said: “Revenue from Customs comes in from the first quarter of the year, dwindles from April only to pick up again sometime in early November. In the first quarter, they chase smugglers and realise more than the target set by the government. The major part is posted as revenue realised. In between, the officers literally go to sleep and allow smugglers to operate and in turn make “returns” to them. As the year runs to an end, pretending to work harder, they start posting the remnant of whatever is left to balance up the command’s revenue target. It is a symbiotic agreement. That way, the Customs command meets its revenue target and has more than enough financial gains for its officers and men, while smugglers smile to the bank at the expense of the nation.”
A popular smuggler in the axis, who simply identified himself as Lai, corroborated the claim. “At the beginning of the year and as the government starts implementing the budget, Customs go dey pursue us enter the bush, tax us heavily, impose levies, fines, and duty on us. As the year dey go, when them don make government money finish, dem go come relax small, na dat time we dey settle dem and bring in illegal, banned and contraband goods. Me, I dey bring in anything except motor. Na general goods I specialise in,” Lai said in smattering English.
Efforts to speak with the Customs Area Controller of Seme Border, Comptroller Dera Nnadi, on some of the alleged sharp practices by some of his men were not successful as the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Abdullahi Onawo, insisted that an official letter must be written to that effect.
“My boss or I would not talk to you unless you send in a formal letter of request for an interview. This is an office, and you can’t crash in and start talking to my oga just like that,” Onawo said.
When told that his position suggested that the Command had something to hide, he responded: “That is the reason I said I want a letter from you.”
However, it would be recalled that the Acting Comptroller-General of the NCS, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, recently said that the service would review its procedures and enforcement strategies at the borders.
The CG gave the warning during a two-day “Sensitisation Workshop on the Nigeria Customs Service Act, NCSA, 2023,”, organised for members of the Nigeria Customs management.
The Act provides for the reform of the administration and management of Customs and excise, with a focus on improper exportation of goods.
Adeniyi expressed excitement at some provisions of the Act, saying: “Criminals are always willing to commit fraud because they know that they are going to get a slap on the wrist. So what this law has brought are very, very heavy, punitive sanctions. That should deter people from committing those violations against the customs law.
“At the risk of leaking out our plans, I would tell you that one of the things that I intend to do, as we start, will be to take a look at our procedures, processes, and the parks in the border areas, our enforcement strategies. We are going to review all of that and we want to do it in such a way that they promote user friendliness and also promote economic growth without compromising national security.”
