Nigerian customs, port officials collect bribes; smuggled goods easily enter seaports, cross land borders – US investment report

The United States government has highlighted the complexities of doing business in Nigeria, citing the notoriety of customs and port officials to collect bribes to facilitate the importation of goods into the country.

In its latest investment climate report on Nigeria, the U.S. Department of State also mentioned that Nigeria’s borders and seaports have been free pathways for smuggled goods.

“Businesses report that bribery of customs and port officials remains common and often necessary to avoid extended delays in the port clearance process and that smuggled goods routinely enter Nigeria’s seaports and cross its land borders,” the report reads.

The report further noted that despite the laws and policies implemented to fight corruption, Nigeria’s anti-graft agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, have failed to secure high-profile convictions.

The U.S. government noted that “the EFCC has achieved the most success in prosecuting low-level internet scam operators” and “a relatively few high-profile convictions have taken place.”

According to the report, the EFCC has secured 9,060 convictions from its investigations since 2015. Three thousand seven hundred eighty-five of those convictions were in 2022, but a larger proportion were for low-profile fraud cases.

The report highlighted the few high-profile convictions the EFCC secured, including that of former governors of Adamawa and Bayelsa, a former inspector general of police, and a former chair of the board of the Nigerian Ports Authority.

The investment climate report noted that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission contributed to the fight against corruption in Nigeria, securing 51 convictions out of the 178 cases the commission filed in court between 2019 and 2020.

“The investment climate in Nigeria continues to be affected by political, criminal, and insurgent violence. Boko Haram and Islamic State-West Africa (ISIS-WA) have waged violent terrorist campaigns, killing thousands of people and displacing millions.

“Boko Haram and ISIS-WA attacked civilians, military, police, humanitarian, and religious targets; recruited and forcefully conscripted men and children to be soldiers and women to be placed in forced marriages; and carried out scores of attacks on population centres in the Northeast and in neighbouring Cameroon, Chad, and Niger,” the U.S. Stated Department added.