Customs/smugglers imbroglio: The way out

THERE was a sort of public drama that attracted a large audience, staged in the Ota end of the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway on Wednesday, February 22. Rice sellers at Sango Ota market in Ado Odo Ota Local Government Area of the state stormed Ota environs in a theatrical performance, blocking all roads in fury, demonstrating against what one could describe as a reminiscence of the “Isreali’s raid on Entebe”. This aptly describes how the officers of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) raided the demonstrators’ shops earlier around midnight, carting away over 18,000 bags of rice and thousands of vegetable oil cartons, worth over N300 million, according to an account given by the Sango market coordinator, Rice Sellers Association, Alhaja Wakilat Salako. The effect and immediate consequences of the demonstrations that day, within the environment and throughout the Local Government Area, can better be imagined. As a matter of fact, if not for the quick intervention of government, the story would have been different.

As if that was not enough, the fury of the demonstrators seemed deeply rooted and sustained as they followed up with another round of demonstration the following day, Thursday, February 23.  This time, they went to the seat of government, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, to recount their plight to the governor. With the ban on rice importation in the country and the Customs understanding that the items   must have been smuggled into the country, thus raiding the marketers’ shops to confiscate all the items, it would not be out of place to conclude that the raid was legal. Smuggling has indeed plagued the nation’s economy for years. Going back in time, countless examples of smuggling activities have been reported in innumerable number of times. In  October  2016, rice worth over $3 billion destined for the Nigerian market was found stuck in various markets in Benin Republic, due to the Federal Government’s refusal to allow its importation through land borders and fierce Customs’ anti-smuggling drive.

Another of such antics repeated itself in Lagos as smugglers, operating at the Badagry-Seme border, packed smuggled rice as dead bodies in an ambulance. The vigilance of the team of officials on duty paid off as they noticed the frequency with which the said ambulance was patronizing the international route, with “dead bodies”. Subsequently, the Volvo car was stopped, after which bags of imported rice, carefully arranged and wrapped as corpses, were discovered. To a great extent, these unwholesome activities have crippled the Nigerian economy in many ways. Regrettably, the deficit arising from the importation of rice costs Nigeria over $2bn per annum. It should be noted again that smuggling doesn’t just happen; it is usually the  result of other factors and indices of corruption such as porous borders, indecent and nefarious activities of officials, and hunger induced by bad economic policies.

The stakes are high in the country and the prices of food items are on the increase on a daily basis, just as feeding well remains a wishful thinking for many families. Existing statistics  prove that the cost of food in Nigeria increased by 18.50 per cent in February, over the same month in the previous year. Food inflation in Nigeria averaged 11.12 percent from 1996 until 2017, reaching an all-time high of 39.54 percent in September of 2001 and a record low of 17.50 percent in January, 2000. Nevertheless, this should not form the basis for smuggling. Rather, as a nation, we can begin to look for genuine and lasting solutions. As much as one is confident of the policy position of building a self-sustaining economy through strengthening local production against importation, it is important to mention that the country is not yet ripe for that. For now, Nigeria consumes over 6.5 million tons of rice annually. Shamefully, less than half of this is produced locally.

More importantly, the NCS officials must remember that irrespective of the uniform they wear, it can never be a license to take advantage of the people, or anything that seems like it. The circumstances surrounding their actions call for questions and indeed some measure of investigation. Also, the unfortunate incident that led to the shooting to death of two persons who were suspected to be smuggling rice by same officials at Kobape in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State must be condemned in strong terms. The effort of the state government through the immediate grant of a sum of money in sympathy and to stem the ugly consequence of the action of the men of the customs is a welcome development and highly commendable. However, it should be noted that no amount of money is worth the life lost in a reckless manner!

Needless to say, if the Customs officers had been proactive enough in the discharge of their duties, particularly at the border posts, all the attendant crises would have been nipped in the bud. However, it is necessary that the management of the NCS reason with the warning and appeal of the Ogunn State government. “We hereby further appeal to the top echelon of the Customs Service to call their officers in the state to order and embrace proper decorum and civility in their operations so as to avoid acts capable of breaching public peace and putting the government in a bad light among the people,” the Secretary to the State Government, Barrister Taiwo Adeoluwa had said in a press release after the incident. The masses, and of course traders in general should equally be wary of engaging in shady businesses or deals. They should refuse to be lured with attractive gains that could spell dangerous consequences. Government, on its part, can also seek help from outside. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, for example in the last quarter of year 2016, showed interest in Nigeria, planning to fund six agricultural commodities with special commitment to rice and yam production for food sufficiency. This is an effort in the right direction. This is an opportunity for government to do better by aggressively boosting the local capacity to produce more.

• Sekoni writes in from Abeokuta, Ogun State.