By Godwin Oritse

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Monday handed over 399 rifles and other assorted arms and ammunition to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) for further investigation and prosecution.

Speaking at the handing-over ceremony at the Tin-Can Island Port in Lagos, Comptroller-General of Customs, Dr. Adewale Adeniyi, expressed concern over the increasing volume of arms being imported into the country, particularly as Nigeria approaches another election year.

Adeniyi also said that the offensive items were detected because of the robust system the agency has put in place to checkmate illicit imports, saying that “That container was found because of a system, and that system exists because this administration chose to invest in it. “Under the Trade Modernisation Project, we have replaced manual processes with B’Odogwu, which brings clearance, automated risk management, cargo tracking and non-intrusive inspection onto a single platform. The purpose of that investment was never revenue alone. We cannot open every container that enters this country, and no customs administration anywhere in the world can. What technology gives us is the ability to know which container to open. What you are looking at this morning is that capability doing precisely what it was built to do.”

The Customs boss stated the Service will not allow the ports or border posts to be used to bring in offensive imports, as any such unwholesome cargo will be detected by new technology the Customs has invested in.

He said: “We will not allow the ports and borders of this country to be used to bring in arms, or anything else that threatens the safety of Nigerians. Our officers will stay vigilant. We will sharpen our intelligence. We will strengthen our risk systems.

“And we will work shoulder to shoulder with our sister agencies to find the people who attempt this and to stop them. And I say one thing to our own personnel, as plainly as I say it to anyone outside this Service: the officer who lends himself to this trade, or who uses his position to ease the passage of such goods, will find no shelter with us.

“Somebody paid for them. Somebody arranged their shipment. Somebody was waiting at this end to collect them. And somebody, somewhere in this country, was going to be on the wrong end of them. That is what we have gathered this morning to hand over to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons.

“On the 8th of July, a container arrived at Tin Can Island Port aboard the vessel MV VELIKA. It was not opened because somebody had a suspicion, or because an officer happened to be passing. It was opened because our risk management system flagged it. I ask you to hold on to that distinction, because I will come back to it before I finish. Inside were firearm components, taken apart and hidden in knocked-down form. That is a deliberate method. It is chosen for one reason only, which is that a rifle in pieces does not look like a rifle.

“Now consider what that quantity of weapons would have done. Our country is contending with terrorism. With banditry. With kidnapping. With violent crime that has entered too many homes in this country. And not one of those afflictions can be carried out without a weapon in somebody’s hand.

“Weapons like these are not made in Nigeria. They are made elsewhere, and they reach us through the ports, the borders and the airports that this Service is charged with guarding. We are also approaching another electioneering season, and I do not need to describe to this audience what several hundred firearms in the wrong hands would mean for the peace of our communities or for the conduct of our democracy. I will say only this: that consignment did not reach its destination, and the officers of this Service are the reason.

“That container was found because of a system, and that system exists because this administration chose to invest in it. Under the Trade Modernisation Project, we have replaced manual processes with B’Odogwu, which brings clearance, automated risk management, cargo tracking and non-intrusive inspection onto a single platform. The purpose of that investment was never revenue alone. We cannot open every container that enters this country, and no customs administration anywhere in the world can. What technology gives us is the ability to know which container to open. What you are looking at this morning is that capability doing precisely what it was built to do.

“But a seizure by itself proves very little, and I want to be careful about that. So let me tell you what has happened since. Two suspects are now in custody. One of them was arrested on the 31st of July at a bonded terminal, while he was attempting to procure the release of this very container. Both have been remanded by the Federal High Court in Lagos, and arraignment is set for the 25th of August.

“And today the weapons themselves pass into the custody of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, under the Office of the National Security Adviser. Hear that sequence in full, because it is the whole point of this gathering.

“The weapons were intercepted. The importers were arrested. They stand before a court of law. And the arms are being surrendered to the national authority responsible for them. That is not an incident. That is a chain, and every link in it held.

“Whoever packed this consignment took great care to hide it. It was found anyway, because our systems worked and because our officers did their duty, and I want that named in this room. To the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons,

“Every firearm we stop before it reaches the wrong hands is a life that may have been saved. We will never know whose life it was. We will never meet that person, and that person will never know our names. That is exactly why this work matters, and why it will continue. The Nigeria Customs Service remains committed to the protection of our borders, and to the shared effort of making this country safer.”