How Nigeria is losing the battle against contraband goods?

When a couple of days ago, the Nigerian Customs service revealed through its Comptroller General Abdullahi Dikko Inde that it had confiscated textile materials worth N315 billion smuggled into the country, in Kano state, it again raised a question on an issue that has simply refused to go away. One of the things that agitaated stakeholders in the report is that despite the Federal Government’s war against band contraband goods, they somehow find their way into the Nigerian market.
In a recent interview with the President of National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), Mr. Issa Aremu he revealed that it is better for the government to exclude products like textiles from its prohibition list because despite the fact it is on the prohibition list, it is still smuggled into the country, hence, depriving the country of a veritable source of revenue.
“If you look at the prohibition list, you will discover that Textile fabrics of all types and articles thereof are there along with other items. This has done more harm than good because the government has failed to put in place, adequate measures to enforce the law,” he said.
“The fact that the government has failed to put in place adequate measures to tackle the activities of smugglers, has cost Nigerians millions of naira which it would gain if the government removed it from the prohibition list and allow it to be imported so as to collect tariffs from its importation,” he added.

 
A look at the prohibition list revealed that the following fall under the category of Import Prohibition List.
Take rice, for instance. Sequel to the pronouncement of the Federal Government to place a complete ban on the importation of rice by 2014, there was an avalanche of mixed reactions.
Consequently, the United States department of Agriculture (USDA) suggested that it is unlikely that Nigeria will be able to achieve self sufficiency in rice production by its target date. As if adding its voice against the Federal Government’s rice policy, the spokesman of the Seaport Terminal Operators of Nigeria (STOAN), Mr. Bolaji Akinola recently urged the Federal Government to review the policy on rice importation in the interest of the nation’s economy.
Akinola said that Nigerians are losing an average of N1billion daily to the existing policy on rice importation and the attendant high level of smuggling of the commodity in the country.
“Before January 2013, rice importers paid a 60 per cent duty, but when it was increased to 110 per cent, importers shunned Nigerian ports for neighbouring countries.
“No rice vessel has berthed at any port in Nigeria in close to a year now. What that means is that government is losing revenue that Customs should have collected.
“The vessels just go to the neighbouring Ports where they will pay far less duty and the smugglers end up bringing the same rice into the country illegally,” Akinola stressed.
There is no doubt that Nigeria has not benefited from the ban the Federal Government placed on rice because efforts at enforcing the ban have staggered.
A look at the market space will reveal that a lot of these banned items still find their way into the Nigerian market, hence the question of why were they banned in the first place.
LIST OF PROHIBITED PRODUCTS
1. Live or Dead Birds including Frozen foods.
2. Pork, Beef
3. Birds Eggs
4. Refined Vegetable oils and Fats
5. Cocoa Butter Powder and Cakes
6. Spaghetti/Noodles
7. Fruit Juice in Retail packs
8. Waters, including Mineral waters and Aerated waters containing added sugar or sweetening matter or flavoured, ice snow
9. Bagged Cement
10. Medicaments falling under the following.
– Paracetamol Tablets and Syrups
– Contrimoxazole Tablet Syrups
– Metronidazole Tablets and Syrups
– Haematinic Formulations; Ferrous Sulphate and Ferrous Gluconate Tablets, Folic Acid Tablets, Vitamin B Complex Tablet
– Multivitamin Tablets, Capsules and Syrups (except special formulations)
– Aspirin Tablets
– Magnesium trisilicate tablets and suspensions
– Piperazine Tablets and Syrups
– Levamisole Tablets and Syrup
– Clotrimazole Cream
– Ointments – Penecilin/Gentamycin
– Pyrantel Pamoate tablets and syrups
– Intravenous Fluids
11. Waste Pharmaceuticals
12. Soaps and Detergents
13. Mosquito Repellant Coils
14. Sanitary Wares of Plastics
15. Rethread and used Pneumatic tyres but excluding used truck tyres for rethreading of size.
16. Corrugated Paper and paper Boards
17. Telephone recharge cards and vouchers
18. Textile fabrics of all types and articles thereof.
19. All types of foot wears and bags including suitcases of leather and plastics
20. Hollow Glass bottles of a capacity exceeding 150mls (0.15 liters)
21. Used Compressors
22. Used motor vehicles above fifteen years from the year of manufacture
23. Furniture.
24. Ball Point Pens.