In a landmark judgment, the Court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna has issued a stern warning to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) against confiscating foreign rice and other goods in open markets and expressways, declaring such actions outside the legal purview of the agency.
This ruling was delivered on Wednesday by a three-member panel of justices, led by Justice Ntong Ntong, in response to an appeal by the NCS against the decision of the Federal High Court in Kaduna. The lower court had previously discharged and acquitted Suleiman Mohammed, a businessman, of charges related to the importation of foreign goods.
Case Background
Suleiman Mohammed, a 37-year-old businessman, was arrested on June 14, 2019, on the Kaduna-Zaria Expressway by Customs officers, who confiscated 613 bags of foreign rice, 80 bags of millet, and a truck allegedly used to transport the goods. The items, worth approximately N200 million, were impounded on the grounds of violating the federal government’s ban on foreign rice imports.
Mohammed, however, argued that he was merely a purchaser of the goods from the Central Market in Gusau, Zamfara State, and not an importer. He presented a receipt of purchase as evidence during the trial.
Court of Appeal’s Ruling
In a unanimous decision, the appellate court upheld the earlier ruling of the Federal High Court, emphasizing that the Kaduna-Zaria Expressway is not a designated land border and, therefore, does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Customs Service for enforcement of the importation ban.
Justice Ntong, delivering the judgment, stated: “Kaduna-Zaria Expressway is not a land border, and the Nigeria Customs Service has no right to patrol it or any highway for the sole purpose of arresting and confiscating foreign rice. The confiscation of goods on this highway is outside the contemplation or application of the law banning the importation of foreign rice.”
The court also pointed out that the NCS should focus its enforcement activities at land borders, which are their primary jurisdiction, rather than targeting petty traders and consumers who buy goods in the open market.
Justice Ntong criticized the Customs Service for failing to target actual importers and smugglers, instead choosing to pursue smaller players in the supply chain.
Drawing on an Annang idiom, he remarked: “How can a fowl, instead of attacking the person who killed it, pursue the person who is de-feathering it?”
The court further rebuked Customs officials for conducting what it described as “shoddy investigations” from the comfort of their offices, failing to trace the origin of the goods or identify the actual importers.
In its judgment, the court ordered the immediate release of the confiscated goods and truck. However, it acknowledged the possibility that returning the items may no longer be feasible. In such cases, the NCS was instructed to compensate Suleiman Mohammed with an amount equivalent to the current market value of the confiscated goods and truck.
This ruling sets a significant precedent, reinforcing the limitations of the Nigeria Customs Service’s enforcement powers. Legal experts and trade analysts believe this judgment could encourage more traders to challenge similar confiscations in court.
A Longstanding Culture of Raiding
The ruling also brings to light the inefficiencies in Customs operations, particularly in tackling the inflow of contraband goods at Nigeria’s borders.
The court’s judgment sheds light on a controversial practice by the NCS: raiding stores, markets, and even trucks on highways to seize contraband goods. For years, traders across Nigeria have decried these actions as heavy-handed and unlawful. The confiscated goods most times end up in the possession of customs officers or their relatives. The Nigerian customs officers’ wives are reportedly the largest dealers in foreign rice and other contraband goods in the country.
This deeply entrenched culture of raids, which often targets small-scale traders and consumers, ultimately culminated in the lawsuit filed by Suleiman Mohammed.
The Scourge of Corruption Within Customs
Beyond these raids, the NCS has long been accused of enabling the very smuggling it claims to combat. Bribery and corruption within the agency are believed to have allowed contraband goods to flood Nigerian markets. A prime example of this was exposed by the investigative work of Fisayo Soyombo, a renowned Nigerian journalist.
Through his now-famous “Good Morning Nigeria Customs” social media posts, Soyombo exposed the systemic corruption within the NCS, highlighting how thousands of metric tons of foreign rice and other goods enter the country illegally each day.
“Good morning, @customsNG. Over the night, your men in Ogun State let in more than 3,000 cars containing smuggled rice from Owode-Apa and Seme into Badagry via Gbaji Bridge for onward transfer to Lagos,” he said in his November 25, 2024 tweet. “More than 3,000 cars! That’s at least 9,750,000 kg of rice (3,000 multiplied by 65 bags multiplied by 50kg) through the backdoor.”
Soyombo’s reports revealed that smugglers routinely bribe Customs officials to bypass checks at Nigeria’s borders, a practice that has undermined the nation’s import restrictions.
Despite the public uproar sparked by Soyombo’s revelations, the NCS has failed to take significant action to address the corruption within its ranks. Many believe that the agency’s focus on raiding small traders and consumers diverts attention from the real culprits—smugglers and corrupt Customs officials facilitating illegal imports.
The NCS’s failures have fueled widespread public frustration, with many Nigerians calling for an overhaul of the agency. It is now public knowledge that while the Customs Service spends resources patrolling highways and markets, smugglers continue to operate freely at the borders due to bribery and lax enforcement.
