Why N180bn Customs assets rot away at Lagos waters

In September of 2019, the Comptroller General of Customs, Hameed Ali, commissioned two sea-going patrol boats bought at a cost of N180 billion to curtail the activities of smugglers on the nation’s inland waterways. More than two years after the commissioning of those vessels, they have remained idle, wasting away at anchorage along the nations waters, writes TOLA ADENUBI.

The menace of smuggling via the waterways has been on the rise in recent years following the onslaught against the perpetrators of these vices on land by men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS). For many of these dare-devil smugglers, the option of going through the many riverine communities via boats has become inevitable due to a huge number of losses suffered to Customs while trying to bring in their banned goods through the land borders.

The loss of nine officers by the Nigeria Customs Service in 2012 while trying to stop smuggling via the waterways exemplifies the inadequacies of the Service in battling with waterways smuggling. Following the death of these officers, the NCS, over the years, put in more efforts to increase its capacity in tackling waterways smuggling, and in 2019, took delivery of two sea-going patrol boats christened ‘Customs Pride’ and ‘Group of Nine’ in honour of the nine marine officers who died in battle with smugglers in 2012.

Speaking during the launch of the two patrol boats, the Customs CG admitted that the Service been weak on the waterways compared to the land and that this necessitated the purchase of the two boats.

According to him, “Unfortunately, before now, the Service has been weak on the water arising from the lack of seagoing vessels to effectively checkmate smugglers on the high sea. This situation led to the death of nine Customs marine officers while confronting deadly petrol smugglers on the sea in 2012.

“It is in honour of this group of nine gallant officers who died in the service of their fatherland that one of the seagoing vessels was named ‘Group of Nine’ while the other represents the ‘Customs Pride’ on the sea.

“With these vessels, I hope smugglers will no longer take advantage of NCS vulnerability on the water to smuggle in contraband. NCS marine operatives can now sail to intercept them right on the high sea.

“The timing of this commissioning is strategic as it will immediately boost the ongoing joint security ex-swift response on the water and henceforth remain the symbol of NCS strength on the sea.

“The NCS as a present unbundling of the Service now has four marine commands, namely Western Marine, Eastern Maritime, North-Western Marine and North Eastern Marine commands. It is, therefore, the resolve of management that smugglers find no space to operate either on land, air or sea.”

 

Culture of waste

However, more than two years after those words from the Customs boss, the two patrol boats have become derelict, as most of its gadgets have gone moribund due to abandonment and lack of usage.

The patrol boats, which are also gulping N5 billion in yearly maintenance costs, have, however, not been put into use two years after they were commissioned.

While these vessels rot away, the officers and men of the Western and Eastern Marine Commands of the Service go on patrol operations on the waterways with risky and very rickety smaller patrol boats that cannot withstand the tides at the high seas where smugglers usually have a field day.

The boats, according to sources, are overdue for dry-docking and routine maintenance, according to the manufacturer’s specification since 2020. “Those boats ought to have been taken to either the Naval Shipyard or Niger Dock bay for dry docking.

“Similarly, gadgets that accompanied those boats for its main operational functions have packed up and are presently in a dysfunctional state due to non-usage. Some of the gadgets which include the radar, radios, generating set, and water-jet have all gone moribund,” a source close to the NSC told Nigerian Tribune exclusively.

 

Why waste away?

When pressed on why the Customs will leave assets worth over N180 billion waste away at anchorage, the source explained that the current management of Customs does not see those assets as its own since it didn’t buy them.

“You know that those patrol boats were bought by the former Comptroller General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko in 2015. That the current management of Customs only came to commission those assets four years after they were bought should tell you where their opinion lies as regards those patrol boats.

“Those patrol boats are seen as a ‘Dikko’ thing and not as a Customs thing. The present Customs management didn’t come to commission them until after four years that they were bought. And after the commissioning, which to some of us was just a face saving gesture; the boats have been abandoned there, and have never been used by the Customs in any of their anti-smuggling campaigns on the waterways. What kind of government does this? After spending around N180 billion to purchase patrol boats, you now leave them to waste away at anchorage without them being put to use. This can only happen in this part of the world,” Customs source told the Nigerian Tribune exclusively.

Responding to enquiries about why the boats have not been put to use, the Deputy National Public Relations Officer of Customs, Timi Bomodi explained that a lot of issues were responsible for the abandonment of the two patrol boats. He however refuted claims that they were abandoned because the previous management of Customs bought them.

“On using the vessels, it is not only maintenance but manning issues that we had before. But we have trained a particular set for that, and we are training another one. However, the marine department of the Service is not short of equipment due to the non-usage of these boats.

“The boats have not been made operational because of some issues but we are more than capable of meeting smuggling challenges on the waterways even without the boats,” the Customs Deputy National Spokesman explained.

On the claim that the boats were abandoned because the current management does not see it as their own since it was bought by the previous Customs management, Bomodi explained that “How can people insinuate that because the previous management of Customs bought those vessels, that’s why they have been abandoned?

“The houses that the current management of Customs is living in as of today, were they not built by the previous Customs management? Why didn’t the current management say they won’t live in those houses and build their own? Such insinuations are not true please,” the Customs spokesman added.

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