Why Customs Has Not Been Able To Stop Smuggling In Nigeria – Spokesperson

Officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (File Photo)

The Nigeria Customs Service has lamented the porous nature of the country’s border, stating that smugglers are capitalizing on the weakness to perpetrate their wicked acts.

The agency also blamed the porous borders for its inability to effectively curtail the activities of smugglers who it claims are always devising new ways of dodging the monitoring by its officers.

The submission was made by the spokesperson of the Federal Operations Unit, Zone A, of the Nigeria Customs Service, Jerry Attah, as reported by Premium Times.

Attah revealed that it is impossible for Customs officers to man all the borders in the country, and that this makes it easy for smugglers to move illegal items into the country.

He said, “You will agree with me that our borders are very porous, and because of the porosity of these borders, that is why you still see smuggled items in the country.

“There might be issues of negligence, there might not be issues of negligence but there is the issue of porosity of the borders. Some of these smugglers take advantage of the porous borders.

“I can tell you categorically that those smuggled items find their way in through unapproved routes. If you joined all the arms of Customs officers in the country, there is no way we can man all the borders, that is the fact.”

“We are not saying all Customs officers are saints because out of every 12, there is always a Judas. That is why the management of Customs, in recent times, have dismissed those erring officers and we are still looking for those bad eggs in the service to be dismissed as well.”

He thereafter charged members of the public to provide useful information that can help the agency uncover corrupt officers within the system as well as move against the activities of smugglers.