Nigeria loses N921 billion customs duty to contrabands

The Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Nigeria Customs Service, has lost N921 billion revenue as a customs duty to eleven seizures made by the Apapa Command of the Service between January and April 2025.

The seizures comprised five units of 40-foot containers, two units of 20-foot containers and four additional seizures of loosely concealed contraband items.

The seizures included drones, fake and unregistered pharmaceutical products, food items, etc.

The Comptroller General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this huge revenue loss on Wednesday April 30, 2025 while unveiling the seizures at Apapa Port, Lagos.

The Customs boss said the importers were diversifying their contraband portfolios combining pharmaceuticals, food items and control technology in systematic shipments.

Adeniyi said all these items were  into three different categories as  the first category was  unregistered pharmaceutical products that lacked the mandatory National Agency for Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) registration numbers and certification.

In the second category, according to him, were expired food items with compromised safety profiles that pose imminent danger to public health if introduced into the consumer market in violation of the food products registrations and regulations and pre-shipment inspections of exports act.

Adeniyi explained that the third category was that of controlled equipment including drone technology and telecommunication devices imported without the requisite End User Certificates from the Office of the National Security Advisor.

Adeniyi said: “pursuant to the National Strategic Economic Development Plan, and the executive order on port operations, we have intensified surveillance across unauthorized points of entries, specifically seaports, airports and approved land borders. This is in direct response to the adaptive methodologies being deployed by transactional, transnational criminal networks seeking to compromise our border security architecture and circumvent established import protocols.

“Of particular concern is the alarming prevalence of unregistered pharmaceutical products entering our supply chain without requisite regulatory approvals and quality assurance certifications.

“This item constitutes a clear present danger to public health with potentials to cause significant morbidity and mortality if permitted to infiltrate our domestic markets. Customs, in collaboration with other agencies of government, in exercise of our mandates, have therefore escalated our risk assessment protocols at all points of entry.

“These operations yielded a total of 11 seizures comprising five units of 40-foot containers, two units of 20-foot containers and four additional seizures of loosely concealed contraband items. We are going to be seeing them. The duty paid values of all this amounts to N921 billion

“Our seizures have revealed that importers are diversifying their contraband portfolios combining pharmaceuticals, food items and control technology in systematic shipments. This suggests the emergence of organized networks with sophisticated capabilities rather than isolated smuggling attempts that we used to have. We also have the pattern of strategic country of origin selection,” he said.

Also speaking at the event,  the Director of Port Inspection, NAFDAC, Dr. Olakunle Daniel Olaniran, said the numbers on all the pharmaceutical products were falsified and taking them could lead to death of innocent Nigerians.

He pointed out that for anyone to operate a pharmacy, such must obtain licence. “All these drugs are fake and not fit for human consumption,” said Olaniran.