Stakeholders in the maritime industry have blamed the closure of land borders, general architecture of the Nigerian ports, under-declaration and lack of scanners as reasons that influx of narcotic drugs have continued to persist at the Lagos seaport.
According to a recent data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which was obtained by our correspondent, drug seizures and arrest statistics for 2019 stood at 612,547.89kg of narcotic drug, as against 163,684.44kg seized in 2018. The figure represents an increase of 274.22%.
Conversely, there has been a decrease in the number of arrests. While 9,479 suspects were arrested in 2019, the figure for 2018 was 9,779, which also represents a decline of -3.07%.
The report states that 9,418 suspects were prosecuted in 2019 as against 9,779 in 2018 while 1,120 were convicted in 2019 as against 1,220 in 2018.
According to the report which was made available to Shipping Position Daily, Apapa Port has the highest numbers of cases at seaports with seven arrests and 3.440kg of drugs seized by State and Special Area commands. Tin Can and Onne ports had zero record cases in the 2019 report of the NBS.
However, at the border posts, Seme top the chart with 28 cases in 2019 with over 2,812.016kg of narcotics seized as against 34 cases and 6,013.02kg in 2018.
Meanwhile, checks by Shipping Position Daily also confirmed that more than five trucks of tramadol were intercepted at Apapa Port between January and August 2020.
Reacting to the increase in the quantity of hard drugs seized especially within the Lagos Port corridor, the National Secretary of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Alhaji Babatunde Mukaila blamed the general architecture of the Nigerian ports and under-declaration of cargoes as reasons for the continuous smuggling of narcotics, especially tramadol into the country.
Mukaila revealed that, without scanners at the ports, it would be difficult to curb the trend, stating that the Nigeria Customs Service would realise more revenue, if there are scanners at the ports.
According to him, “the customs are trying, but the architecture of the port gives room for anybody to try their luck, although the general compliance level of the Nigerian freight forwarders has increased tremendously, but of course, in every 12, there must be a Judas. The port structure and architecture permits someone to smuggle in tramadol because there is no scanner, it is through intelligence gathering that customs are using to detect the Tramadol and I must commend them, customs must up their game about intelligence gathering".
Also reacting, the President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF); Chief Increase Uche blamed the closure of the land borders as the reason smuggling of narcotics persists in the port.
Uche said with the closure of land borders the smugglers are now shifting base to the seaports and airports which has led to the escalation of seizures by the Nigeria Customs Service.
“The closure of the border means that almost all cargoes will be passing through the seaports and airports, so many of these unscrupulous elements are trying to reroute their cargoes through the seaports and airports, before now the land borders have been so porous , but with the closure it means that smugglers will now shift base, which has led to the escalation in the number of seizure being made at the seaports and I think Customs should be encouraged as they are now more at alert and that is why we have the numbers of seizure recorded”, he said.
On his part, the Public Relations Officer of the Tin Can Island Customs Command of the NCS, Uche Ejesieme while reacting to the data by the NBS, said the command was able to record zero case of drug seizure due to the stringent measures the command has put in place.
He said the command is a no-go area for drugs, adding that smuggling is a global phenomenon and the service is doing everything possible to contain it.
He however said that not all tramadol is banned informing that 50mg of the drug is allowed for importation.
Reacting as well, the public relations officer of the Seme Customs Command, Husseini Abdulahi said due to the vast land borders, smugglers will naturally want to take advantage to perpetrate evil, but he however said efforts have been put in place by the men of the Service to forestall any attempt.
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