SEREC COMMENDS CUSTOMS INTELLIGENCE -LED SEIZURES , WARNS OF GROWING SECURITY THREATS AT NIGERIA’S PORTS, BORDERS

SEREC Commends Customs Intelligence-Led Seizures, Warns of Growing Security Threats at Nigeria’s Ports, Borders

By Babatunde Aremu

The Sea Empowerment & Research Center (SEREC) has commended the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR, and the management of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for sustained intelligence-led interventions and seizures of prohibited and dangerous consignments across the country’s ports, land borders and other points of entry.

SEREC, in a public policy statement signed by its Head of Research, Fwdr Eugene Nweke, RFF, said the interceptions should no longer be regarded merely as routine Customs enforcement activities, but as critical interventions in Nigeria’s national security architecture.

According to the organisation, the recurring interception of arms and ammunition, illicit drugs, prohibited goods, unreported currency and other sensitive consignments indicates that Nigeria’s maritime and land-frontier networks are being persistently tested and exploited by transnational criminal syndicates and organised smuggling networks.

SEREC warned that criminal groups, including arms traffickers, drug cartels and potentially terrorist-linked interests, could seek to exploit legitimate trade infrastructure to establish supply and logistics channels.
It said a seized container containing prohibited items should therefore be viewed beyond the immediate Customs violation, stressing that the interception could represent the disruption of a wider criminal supply chain.

The organisation described Nigeria’s ports, borders and trade corridors as strategic national-security frontiers, in addition to their traditional role as economic gateways.
Calls for national security wake-up call
SEREC called on the Federal Government and relevant security and regulatory agencies to undertake deeper national-security assessments, strengthen intelligence coordination and adopt more proactive preventive measures.
It urged the government not to wait until illicit arms, ammunition, narcotics, terrorist logistics or criminal finances had successfully entered the country before taking action.

The organisation also expressed concern over the activities of bandit, terrorist and violent extremist organisations, as well as transnational criminal networks operating within and around the West African sub-region.
SEREC said the situation required heightened vigilance as Nigeria approaches the 2027 general electioneering period.

According to the organisation, election periods can create additional vulnerabilities through increased political activities, movement of people and goods, illicit financing, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, communal tensions and attempts by criminal elements to exploit political instability.

It therefore called for intensified intelligence gathering, border surveillance, inter-agency coordination and preventive security planning ahead of the 2027 electoral cycle.
Government urged to strengthen intelligence-led Customs enforcement
SEREC particularly commended the increasing emphasis by the NCS on intelligence gathering, risk profiling, targeted interventions, information analysis and inter-agency collaboration.

The organisation said modern smuggling operations had become increasingly sophisticated, involving false documentation, front companies, concealment techniques, multiple transit routes, trade-based financial mechanisms and legitimate commercial actors.

It consequently called for increased government investment in advanced Customs intelligence and risk-management systems, secure real-time inter-agency information sharing, advance cargo and pre-arrival information analysis, non-intrusive inspection technology, maritime and land-border surveillance, data analytics and intelligence fusion.

It also advocated stronger international and regional Customs and security cooperation, specialised training for Customs intelligence personnel, as well as improved logistics, welfare and operational support for officers deployed to sensitive locations.
Freight forwarders, Customs brokers must become part of security architecture

The organisation further called for freight forwarders, Customs brokers, licensed bonded terminal operators, shipping and logistics companies and other legitimate trade-chain participants to be integrated more deliberately into Nigeria’s border-security and trade-compliance framework.
SEREC noted that such stakeholders often possess valuable information about consignors, consignees, cargo descriptions, documentation, routing and cargo movements that could assist enforcement authorities.

It, however, warned that legitimate operators could be unknowingly exploited by criminal networks through inadequate awareness, weak due diligence or insufficient knowledge of emerging smuggling techniques.
The organisation also acknowledged that some unscrupulous industry actors knowingly facilitate or profit from illicit trade, stressing that both dimensions required appropriate attention.
SEREC therefore proposed a comprehensive Port and Border Trade-Security Enlightenment and Compliance Programme for Customs brokers, freight forwarders, licensed bonded operators and other supply-chain stakeholders.
The programme, it said, should focus on identifying suspicious consignments and trade patterns, Know-Your-Customer and Know-Your-Consignor principles, cargo and documentary risk indicators, concealment and diversion techniques, suspicious-activity reporting channels, legal consequences of facilitating prohibited trade, cyber and documentary fraud awareness, illicit financial-flow red flags and responsibilities under Customs and security laws.

The initiative, according to SEREC, should not be designed to criminalise the freight-forwarding and Customs-brokerage profession but to professionalise, educate and empower legitimate operators to serve as an additional layer of vigilance within Nigeria’s supply-chain security architecture.
SEREC advocates shared responsibility

The organisation said Nigeria needed to move beyond the traditional concept of “Customs versus smugglers” towards a broader framework of shared responsibility for secure and legitimate trade.
“Government agencies cannot see everything,” SEREC stated, adding that Customs officers could not be physically present at every stage of a cargo transaction, while security agencies could not independently monitor every trade document, consignee, consignor, warehouse, bonded facility and logistics movement.

It therefore urged the private sector to regard intelligence reporting and compliance as part of its professional and patriotic responsibility.
At the same time, SEREC called on enforcement agencies to ensure that information supplied by legitimate industry stakeholders was treated professionally and confidentially, without subjecting compliant businesses to unnecessary harassment.
Trade facilitation must go hand in hand with security
SEREC stressed that stronger border security should not result in indiscriminate cargo interventions or unnecessary delays for compliant traders.

It advocated a system where low-risk and compliant cargo moves efficiently, while credible intelligence triggers targeted intervention against high-risk consignments.

According to the organisation, the combination of modern Customs administration, technology, intelligence and professional participation by supply-chain stakeholders would help achieve both trade facilitation and national security.
SEREC’s recommendations
SEREC called on the Federal Government to:
Recognise the growing security significance of Nigeria’s ports, borders and trade corridors and provide the NCS and other relevant agencies with adequate resources, technology and institutional support.
Strengthen intelligence fusion and real-time information sharing among the NCS, Nigerian Navy, NIMASA, Nigeria Police Force, immigration authorities, financial-intelligence institutions and other relevant agencies, within applicable laws.
Heighten surveillance of maritime and land-frontier routes vulnerable to exploitation by terrorist organisations, bandit networks, arms traffickers, drug cartels and transnational organised crime.
Develop proactive security plans ahead of the 2027 electioneering period to prevent the movement of illicit arms, narcotics, criminal finances and other dangerous materials through Nigeria’s trade corridors.
Establish structured national enlightenment and professional training programmes for freight forwarders, Customs brokers, licensed bonded operators and other supply-chain stakeholders.
Enforce the law firmly against industry actors who knowingly facilitate criminal trade while protecting legitimate professionals who may have been innocently or unknowingly exploited by criminal networks.
Encourage the NCS to sustain its transition towards intelligence-driven, technology-enabled, risk-based and professionally targeted enforcement, while maintaining transparency, accountability and respect for legitimate trade.
‘Strengthen the gate before the threat enters’
SEREC described the recurring seizures by the NCS as both a demonstration of operational vigilance and a warning that should not be ignored.
It said the interceptions demonstrate that criminal networks are continuously probing vulnerabilities within Nigeria’s borders and legitimate trade channels.
“The protection of the nation’s ports and frontiers is no longer solely a Customs responsibility. It is a collective national-security responsibility involving government, security agencies, Customs, the maritime industry, freight forwarders, Customs brokers, bonded operators, financial institutions and the wider trading community,” SEREC said.

The organisation commended the leadership of the NCS for its interventionist alertness and called for greater government backing, stronger inter-agency intelligence cooperation, enhanced technology and a more security-conscious trade community.
As Nigeria approaches another critical electoral cycle, SEREC urged all stakeholders to remain vigilant.

“Our ports must remain gateways to legitimate commerce—not gateways for terrorism, banditry, organised crime, illicit arms, narcotics or other threats to national stability,” the organisation stated.

“The time to strengthen the gate is before the threat enters—not after the damage is done.”