CUSTOMS AND NIGERIAN ‘BIG MEN’

IN a tone that smacks of despondency, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) recently confessed that its primary assignment has become daunting. The service lamented that the job of curbing smuggling of goods into the country is made difficult by the involvement of notable Nigerians in this unwholesome act of economic sabotage. Mr. Julius Nwagwu, the Comptroller of Customs (Exports) NCS Headquarters, disclosed this much at the public hearing of the Joint Senate Committee on Industry and Agriculture on the Collapse of the Nigerian Textile Industries.

HE was emphatic that top government officials, wealthy Nigerians and their families have made the job of preventing smuggling of goods into the country very difficult. He insinuated that indiscriminate smuggling of textile items into Nigeria might have contributed significantly to the virtual demise of the textile industry in the country. According to the customs officer, these Nigerians travel abroad quite frequently to smuggle goods into the country and that officers of the service are usually under undue pressure from official quarters to accord these privileged smugglers a free passage.

MR. Nwagwu’s disclosure was not a revelation of any sort. He had simply informed Nigerians what many of them had known already but it is good that the confirmation came from an officer of the Customs Service. It would appear that the same privileged citizens, public officers and their relations, who often dodge payment of taxes on their private businesses are the ones who also engage in smuggling of goods.

HOWEVER, the courage of the customs officer, who linked prominent Nigerians, government officials and their relations to smuggling, would appear to have fallen short. He should have avoided playing to the gallery by going a step further to identify these Nigerians because that indeed would have been the new revelation. Taking his cue from the Senate’s recent revelation of some personalities who are debtors of some failed banks in the country, Nwagwu should name the culprits. It is by so doing that the country can be thinking of breaking free from the corrupt officials and citizens, who are strangulating the economy. Even if Nwagwu is afraid to name names, the Senate should compel the NCS to do so officially, after all, the officer came to represent and brief the Senate Committee on its behalf.

IT follows from the accounts of the NCS at the public hearing that some Nigerians of power and means smuggle goods into the country with impunity only for the NCS officials to harass the buyers and impound the smuggled goods from retailers or end users. The privileged culprits are left alone while the ordinary citizens, who transact legitimate business within the borders of the country, are constantly harassed and molested.

THE NCS should live up to its responsibility of policing the borders. It should focus more on preventing illegal entry of goods from foreign countries to the country at the borders instead of running after small time buyers of the supposed smuggled goods in the country. The service should also realise that it cannot continue endlessly to blame its lackluster performance of its statutory duties on some unnamed elite in the corridors of power who are allegedly frustrating its efforts. It is about time it stood up to be counted.

PERHAPS the first step in this direction is to embark on self cleansing among its officers and men. The general perception of the public is that the service is a haven for highly corrupt civil servants and the flamboyant lifestyle of some of the personnel of NCS in and out of office tends to lend credence to this perception. Thus, if corruption can be reduced significantly in the service, its officials will be on a high moral ground to resist the attempts of the privileged class to continue the sabotage of the economy.

THE behaviour of officials and big men who are reportedly involved in or are giving tacit support to smuggling is condemnable. Such unpatriotic disposition is undermining and destroying the nation’s economy. Unfortunately, the effects of this sabotage will be more pronounced on the economy at this time of global economic meltdown and its attendant negative impacts on the country’s receipts from oil. Any government that hopes to deliver on its budget today will necessarily rely more on taxes and levies than before to finance the budget. And custom duties and tariffs, which income is allegedly being reduced by smuggling activities, is one way the Federal Government can raise substantial funds.

THEREFORE, the Federal Ministry of Finance, which is the supervising ministry of the NCS and the joint Senate Committee on Industry and Agriculture on the Collapse of Textile Industry in Nigeria, should not take the submission of the NCS at the public hearing lying down. The two institutions should carry out a thorough investigation on the allegation of complicity levelled against government officials on smuggling. The purpose of such an inquiry is not only to ascertain the veracity of Mr. Nwagwu’s claim, but also to know those who are behind the economic sabotage and bring them to book.

THE Customs officer who appeared before the joint Senate Committee may not have done enough because he did not give the names of the alleged smugglers and their backers in government. But he has no doubt given sufficient clue and direction as to where a serious and responsible government should focus its attention while tackling the menace of smuggling.