ByStephen Ubanna
For years the ports of Apapa, Tin-can Island and Murtala Muhammed had remained a haven for VIPs involved in smuggling of arms and ammunition into the country. Past and Present Area Controllers of Apapa Command may have tightened security at the premier port that VIP arms and ammunition smugglers had restricted their operations to Tin-Can Island port and the port of Onne and Murtala Mohammed Cargo airport.
The situation was so bad at the port of Onne, under the close watch of Compt. Mohammed Babandede, that Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, the Customs Comptroller had declared a state of emergency at the port to forestall the activities of the smugglers and crush the VIP smugglers’ network.
While all attentions appear to have been diverted in checking the activities of the armed smugglers at Tin-can Island port, Onne port and Murtala Muhammed Cargo, Airport, the VIPs, smugglers had returned back to Apapa to carry out their nefarious activities: flood the Nigerian market with unregistered, expired pharmaceutical products and expired food items.
They got it wrong. This is because Compt. Babatunde Olomu, the Incumbent Area Controller of Apapa Command is not an officer to be taken for granted as he knows how to puncture every tactics employed by the VIP smugglers to carry out their nefarious activities with their foreign collaborations.
Between January and April 30, 2025, the Customs Comptroller who had beamed his searchlight at the port , and effectively using the B’Odogwu technology which had been introduced into the Command by the Customs Comptroller General, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR, to replace the Nigerian Integrated Customs Information System, NICIS, which was a foreign technology, which was a virtual single window framework used the NCS, ‘’to manage trade, import/export and Customs procedures at the nation’s seaports, airport and Land border stations. For the number of years, it was deployed by the service to streamline its operations by automating the NCS, various processes managed by Webb Fontaine, smuggling of profited items into the country like Arms and ammunition including Tramadol and other dangerous drugs had been smuggled into the country undetected at the seaports, airports and Land border stations.
The unrepentant VIP smugglers may have known that they are in for tougher times ahead with the appointment of the then DCG Adeniyi, by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the CGC, in June 2023. The VIP, fraudulent importers may have known that the game is up with the deployment of Compt. Olomu to the Command.
An elated Adeniyi, the CGC, who could not hide his feelings had said that acting on executive order on port operations and the service mandate on accountability and stakeholder management that ‘’the service had intensified surveillance across all authorized points of entry into the country’’. He had alluded to the seaports, airports and the country’s approved Land borders.
He was emphatic that ‘’this diversification is in direct response to the adaptive technologies being deployed by the transnational criminal networks’’, which many believe are working with he fraudulent importers. It would be recalled which the CGC, had revealed that the criminal transnational networks had used the adaptive technologies ‘’ to compromise the nation’s border security architecture and circumvent established import protocols’’.
His worry was the increasing sophistication of smuggling tactics targeting the Lagos port of Apapa. Speaking on Tuesday, April 30, 2025, in his capacity as the CGC, at the Apapa Command, Enforcement unit, premises, the Customs Comptroller General had disclosed that ‘’intelligence reports indicate an increase in attempts to import prohibited and restricted items into the country the port’’. He noted that the shipment of the prohibited items in the first quarter of 2025, bear eloquent testimony to the fact that the smugglers are not relenting in bringing this prohibited item through Container shipping through the Apapa port facility into the country.
Given an insider information, he had said that there had been ‘’ alarming prevalence of unregistered pharmaceutical products entering the country’s supply chain through the Apapa port facility without requisite regulatory approvals and quality assurance certifications’’ which ought to have been given by the National Agency for Food Drug Administration Control, NAFDAC, which currently has Prof Moji Christianah Adeyeye as the Director General.
According to him, the Apapa Command, which has Compt. Olomu, as the Area Controller, enforcement operations at the port between January and April 30, 2025, had resulted in the seizure of seven Containerized cargoes, comprising of five units of ‘’40’’ Container and two units of ‘’20’’ Container and four additional seizures of concealed Contraband items such as drones and telecommunication equipment.
Adeniyi , the Customs Comptroller General may have shocked Nigerians when he stated that the seized goods calculated in accordance with the service valuation protocols to be over N921 billion all into three categories.
He was said to have to have stated clearly that the category A, which included the unregistered pharmaceutical products lacking NAFDAC registration numbers and certification, describing it as a direct contravention the agency Act, Cap NI LFN 2004 as amended which constitute 63.7% of the total seizure value.
The secondary Category of the seized Contraband goods, he had said included expired food items which had compromised the country’s safety profiles and thus poses imminent danger to public health if introduced into the Nigerian market, in violation of the Food Products Registration Regulations and Preshipment Inspection of Export Act.
The Category C, the Customs Chief had said included the Controlled equipment such as drone technology and telecommunication services imported without requisite End User Certificate nfrom the office of Nuhu Ribadu, an Assistant Inspector General of Police, IGP, rtd and an ex-Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and now the National Security Adviser, NASA, to President Tinubu.
The first ‘’40’’ Container, with Container No. CAAU 6514500, was said to have been loaded anti-Duleur Hule,60mg, with 891 cartons unregistered pharmaceutical products including Redsun Sidenafil Citrate Oral Jelly,100mg, Dr. ICO Cyproheptadine with Multivitamin tablet, Samson OIL,2ml, Rocket Sidenafil, Citrate ablet, 200mg, Dr. ICO Herbal inhaler and Dr. ICO Pain. These items were said to have been shipped into the country through the Apapa port facility without NAFDAC Registration numbers, with a Duty Paid Value of N142,296,505.00.
The second ‘’40’’ Container, No. TCNU 6880130, was said to have contained 142 cartons of COL CAPS-Chlorpheniramine, Smugglers, -Maleate Capsules, which the Value online Magazine was informed was another unregistered pharmaceutical product with a DPV OF N140,101,224.00, to name but a few.
The imported drones were said to have been 60 Unites, evacuated from a suspected ‘’40’’ Container with registration No.MSKU 9329923, for lack of End User Certificate from the office of the NSA. There were said to be 53 Units of different Helicopter Drones and pieces of Professional FM, Trans receiver Walkie-Talkie, that was said to have been evacuated from ENL terminal for lack of End User Certificate from the office of the NSA.
In spite of the fact that many of the Consignments which was said to have been produced from the Asian country of China, the GC, had said that ‘’it had originated from jurisdictions with less stringent pharmaceutical export controls’’, which he was said to have further said ‘’indicates a deliberate exploitation of regulatory gaps in the global supply chain’’.
The empirical evidence that was said to have been drawn from intelligence analysis of the seized items by the Apa Customs Command further shows that the items serve dual purposes: as revenue generators for the trans national Criminal Organizations and as operational enablers for non-state actors engaging in activities prejudicial to national security’’.
As a prelude to encourage officers from other Customs Formations across the country to sit up and to make them realize that every of their efforts in the discharge of the service core responsibility would be appreciated by his management team, he had commended the officers and men of the Apapa Command, who through ‘’ surveillance, professionalism and dedication to duty had successfully executed these interceptions at the port’’.
He did not stop there. He had declared that the officers and men of the Apapa Command action are ‘’exemplary to the core values of the services as articulated in their code of conduct: integrity, professionalism and patriotism.
He hd said that the Apapa Command particular, which is basically collection Command for the Federal Government, and other interventionist units of the service may have excelled in their anti-smuggling operations between 2023 and now, as it had documented a concerning trend of increasing sophistication in smuggling techniques, which had necessitated the service corresponding advancement in its enforcement methodologies to go ahead of the smugglers.
Appealing for continued Cooperation of all stakeholders at the Apapa port, he noted that it the only ‘’to ensure compliance with the extant import guidelines’’ and remain secure against the importation of items prejudicial to national security and public health.
The CGC, may have sent a message to the importers with their agents and other stakeholders within the international trade environment to desist from such unholy trade practices as the service uncompromising stances as the service has all that it takes, ‘’ intelligence network and to technological capabilities to detect importation of items prejudicial to national security , insisting the present Customs operations under his leadership collective vigilance remains the most effective deterrent against transnational criminal elements networks attempting to compromise the country’s maritime domain in the recent months.
