Inside Cotonou - Nigerian Smuggling Ring (an Eyewitness Account)

Every Week over 4500 cars are cleared from Cotonou park to enter Nigeria , over 4200 are smuggled illegally into the country , only about 300 are duly registered with the Nigeria Custom Duty documents. These illegal activities cost Nigeria Government over N1.2bm revenue loss weekly and over N62bn Annually.

The big Question is why would a an individual or a group of people prefer to go through risky illegal routes to get cars from Cotonou to Nigeria , rather than pay the required car duty and have a safe and legal passage into Nigeria ?

www.Naijahamlet.com sought to find that answer. Two week ago www.Naijahamlet.com when into the dangerous and smuggling ring to understand the activities of these smugglers who move cars from Cotonou to Nigeria.

www.Naijahamlet.com went undercover and met one of the kingpins (Mr. X) and posed as car buyers that want to buy cars but do not want to pay Nigerian duty, and would prefer to follow the “bush”. The Bush is one of the numerous names for the illegal path.

We claimed we want to bring at least 10 cars weekly into Nigeria, so before we can begin we have to follow him on his trip through the bush to ascertain the activities first hand before we can consummate financial transaction. He agreed and our trip was scheduled for Thursday the same week.

www.Naijahamlet.com then asked Mr. X why Nigerians prefer to go through the bush rather than the legal Nigerian route, below were his response:
- High cost of custom duties in Nigeria
- Low turnaround time of clearance by Nigerian Customs
- Transporting of contraband goods eg. Poultry products, textiles
- Extra “payments” made to Custom officers to facilitate clearance

Mr. X gave us a typical example, to clear a 2000 model car, Nigerian Governent will require you to pay a duty of N95,000, but Nigerian Customs will ask you to make an extra N45,000 as “office Payment” which is illegal, without the payment of the extra – N45,000 your vehicle will remain in the office forever. In other word the corrupt practices of Nigeria Customs encourage Smuggling.

There are 3 major illegal routes – Igolo, Babana and Maje. The most popular of the 3 is Igolo because of its proximity to Nigeria via Idiroko. The termination of the illegal route of Igolo is Sango-Otta.
Mr. X made us to understand it will only cost a customer N35,000 – N50,000 to get his car across from Cotonou to Nigeria via Igolo which when the car is delivered at Sango-Otta , the customer will now enter a fresh negotiation to transport the car to any part of the country.

Thursday came eventually and we commenced our journey at exactly 7pm from Cotonou, we had to get to Igolo border before 11pm where we will assemble with other cars. We will move in a convey through the bush. We got to Igolo at 9:45pm. It was a beehive of activities, we could count at least over 500 cars when we arrived, and there were more coming behind us. At this rendezvous point Drivers refill their fuel tanks, gauge their tyres and also fastened their contraband goods securely as there will be no more stops to have that luxury of time. The next stop will be at Highway after the Customs barracks on the Idiroko – Sango otta Highway.

Before Take off each car pays as high as N30,000. This money is collected and share to “Chairmen" of these illegal route and some Nigerian Custom officers Checkpoints as “Settlement”. These “Chairmen” provide information and alternative routes. Pass Tickets are issued to the drivers and are collected at different points in the bush as prove of payments.

Let’s do a little arithmetic , let’s be conservative and say 1000 cars pass through Igolo route weekly, that is to say these “Chairmen make as high as N30,00,000 weekly and in a year N1.5bn. WOW

At exactly 11pm, the convoy took off through the bush path, intermittent stops as made when there is information about independent Custom Patrol teams that are not part of the “settlement”.

Along the path you will see the “Chairmen” boys guiding drivers and providing assistance to vehicle that get stuck in the mud or some difficult terrains; after all that was why the “chairmen” were paid.

Apart from the fear of Nigerian customs on Patrol, these drivers are faced with the serious security challenges from armed robbers, Village Miscreants. These Drivers are also well armed too, in case of a Violence face-off.

We arrived at Idiroko-Sango Highway at after about 5 hours of driving in the Bush we arrived at about 4am and made a brief stop to ascertain Nigeria Custom Status, after about 30mins drivers were given the GREEN LIGHT and the journey continued at 4:30am.

From that Point to Sango- Otta was just 45mins drive, but that was not to be as we had to make an “Israelite Journey” through another bush path as the Nigerian Custom Unit before Sango-Otta were “Un-cooperative” with the “chairmen” it seemed they were asking for more than what the chairman was offering. That Bush trip lasted 2hrs 30mins.

At exactly 7:15am were arrived in Sango-otta town. This is a trip I never want to experience again.

Nigerian Government should look into these Smuggling activities to make these activities less lucrative for these smugglers.

Visit www.naijahamlet.com to view Some Videos of our Journey.


http://www.naijahamlet.com/2015/08/nigerian-government-looses-over-n1bn_26.html

cc Lalasticlala

Our custom service is a shame

is Nigeria a country.

Before they are arrested, the custom officers shd be prosecuted. I wish the apropriate authorites will see this and act fast. We nid ur type of journalists op.

Wow.. this is alot of Money

N1bn ?

Jeez this Money can really go along way oh in helping unemployment rate in Naija oh

PMB... Pls do something about these oh, we cant be loosing money like this weekly oh

These Statistic is a real cause for concern

hmmmmmm

These are stories that needs to be on FP, but Seun and his moderators will prefer entertainment on FP than issues of National Importance

cc Seun , Afam4eva, OAM4J , Lalasticlala over to you

AnneMomoh:
These are stories that needs to be on FP, but Seun and his moderators will prefer entertainment on FP than issues of National Importance

cc Seun , Afam4eva, OAM4J , Lalasticlala over to you

i concur

Though I did not read the op. I am commenting based on the topic of the thread.

They should try and reduce the high cost of clearing cars in Nigeria. It is so expensive clearing a car in Nigeria when compared to neighbouring countries.

The Nigerian custom need to bring the charges down if they must discourage car smuggling.

DonXavi:
Though I did not read the op. I am commenting based on the topic of the thread.

They should try and reduce the high cost of clearing cars in Nigeria. It is so expensive clearing a car in Nigeria when compared to neighbouring countries.

The Nigerian custom need to bring the charges down if they must discourage car smuggling.

I totally agree with you.

Nigeria custom duties are too high, bring down fees to at least N50k and a turn around time of clearance to 6hrs will greatly reduce smuggling

"Nigerian Government should look into these Smuggling activities to make these activities less lucrative for these smugglers" @bolden ....is it the smuggling activities the government should look at or the illegal collections by the Nigerian Customs that gave rise to the smuggling? Once the men of the Customs and Excise are made to stop all those shady deals, smuggling would become unattractive

Nice undercover journalism.
This is what established media houses should be doing, and not running useless propaganda for the APC and PDP.

k

Who smuggle am?

Smuggling no be korruption.

close these thread,immediately

close these thread,immediately you are affecting peoples livelihood

tobtap:
k

Knife?

rooftech:
close these thread,immediately you are affecting peoples livelihood

How is it affecting people's Livelihood?

rooftech:
close these thread,immediately you are affecting peoples livelihood

Are u a Smuggler?

bigtt76:
"Nigerian Government should look into these Smuggling activities to make these activities less lucrative for these smugglers" @bolden ....is it the smuggling activities the government should look at or the illegal collections by the Nigerian Customs that gave rise to the smuggling? Once the men of the Customs and Excise are made to stop all those shady deals, smuggling would become unattractive

If smuggling is less lucrative, the Customs officers will not have oppoutunities to collect illegal fees

Very good read and a well investigated story
This is where journalism should be at in Nigeria at this stage because there are so many illegal dealings and activities happening underground that needs to be made known,particularly as there is a change movement now in Nigeria.
Between NNPC,NDDC, NPA and customs,there seems to have been an ongoing race amongts the topmost officers and the rank and file as to which of these agencies would win the award for the most corrupt.
There doesn't seem to be a clearcut winner for now, but the undisputed loser has been the Nigerian state and ultimately the Nigerian people.

I doubt it ....rather the custom's delays and high handedness leads to people trying to circumvent the system. So we can conveniently conclude that smuggling being less lucrative will not help in curbing the excesses of the officers and men of the Nigerian customs rather if they are put in check, people would find smuggling less lucrative.

No one wants to invest thousands of naira in buying cars and risk that car being seized, stolen or destroyed during the process of smuggling same in using illegal routes.

QuiverBox:


If smuggling is less lucrative, the Customs officers will not have oppoutunities to collect illegal fees

Yes, i agree but the Nigerian State shld first slash the import duty on On these smuggled cars, when the duty is same with the cost of smuggling, the smugglers will find thier illicit activities less luractive.

doctokwus:
Very good read and a well investigated story
This is where journalism should be at in Nigeria at this stage because there are so many illegal dealings and activities happening underground that needs to be made known,particularly as there is a change movement now in Nigeria.
Between NNPC,NDDC, NPA and customs,there seems to have been an ongoing race amongts the topmost officers and the rank and file as to which of these agencies would win the award for the most corrupt.
There doesn't seem to be a clearcut winner for now, but the undisputed loser has been the Nigerian state and ultimately the Nigerian people.

I am just Imagining what N1bn can do to Nigerian Youths weekly, that's a lot of Money

bigtt76:
I doubt it ....rather the custom's delays and high handedness leads to people trying to circumvent the system. So we can conveniently conclude that smuggling being less lucrative will not help in curbing the excesses of the officers and men of the Nigerian customs rather if they are put in check, people would find smuggling less lucrative.

No one wants to invest thousands of naira in buying cars and risk that car being seized, stolen or destroyed during the process of smuggling same in using illegal routes.

Yes, i agree but the Nigerian State shld first
slash the import duty on On these smuggled
cars, when the duty is same with the cost of
smuggling, the smugglers will find thier illicit
activities less luractive.