Many Nigerians were taken aback last Tuesday when news started making the rounds that the Tin-Can Island Port Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has again intercepted large quantities of guns of various sizes and designs as well as gun accessories.
The 440 pieces of assorted types of pump action rifles were said to have come into the country from Turkey and were concealed in a 1×20-ft container declared by the importer as chemical formula with 50kg bags of pop cement.
This most recent seizure, however, took the minds of Nigerians back to four months ago, precisely late January 2017, when the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) of Customs also intercepted 49 boxes loaded with 661 pieces of pump action rifles said to have been imported into the country from China.
Alarmingly, in December 2016, the same Bashar Yusuf-led Tin-Can Island Port Command of Customs also intercepted another set of guns concealed in an imported used vehicle and some set of gun accessories hidden in a container loaded with used vehicles. Alongside this particular import were some military camouflages and large quantity of gun accessories such as gun pellets and riffle paunches.
With the growing illegal importation of arms and ammunition into Nigeria, the world’s sixth-biggest producer of oil that has been battling in-country terrorism, Nigerians cannot but wonder who the owners of these imported arms are and the motive behind the dubious imports.
More worrying is the fact that several months after these imports, the Department of State Security (DSS), upon whose shoulder rests the responsibility of carrying out further investigation on the matter, is yet to bring to tell Nigerians the outcome of its investigations and who the real owners of these imports are.
A particular school of thought has linked the growing illegal arms importation to the recent alarm raised by Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff, on the secret plans by some army officers to overthrow the sitting president and replace him with military officers.
On the other hand, there are speculations that this growing trend can be traced to the fact that many Nigerians are becoming disappointed at the inability of the Muhammadu Buhari administration to provide adequate security to Nigerians. This is as arms-bearing Fulani herdsmen constantly launch nightly attacks on whole communities, raping women, destroying farms, burning houses and killing innocent citizens with government seemingly unable to bring the perpetrators to book. Does it then mean that frustrated Nigerians want to take the laws into their hands since government has failed to protect them?
Indications are that some very powerful elements in the society are seriously funding these illicit imports and, according to analysts, these powerful elements may be highly placed government people and the funds used in these imports could be stolen or laundered money.
“There is an increasing rate of arms-bearing in our society today and these arms and ammunition are mostly found in the hands of unauthorised persons,” said Emma Nwabunwanne, a Lagos-based importer.
The current economic downturn, he observed, has led to job loss in different sectors of the economy and as such more youths are indulging in armed robbery and kidnapping for ransom.
“It is worrisome to know that the National Bureau of Statistics’ (NBS) latest report shows that the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) has again contracted in the first quarter of this year, implying that hope for quick economic recovery and job creation is still far from reality,” he said.
As a way out, he stressed the need for the Federal Government and its economic management team to put in place structures that would bring the economy back on track so that many Nigerian youths and active population would not only be gainfully employed but would have food on the table. This, he said, would lead to reduction in crime rate and also ensure the safety of Nigerians.
Some analysts have suggested that the Federal Government should without delay place a ban on importation of goods from Turkey given the rate at which arms infiltrate into Nigeria from that country, further complicating insecurity in an already security-challenged economy.
Bolaji Akinola, chief executive officer, Ships and Ports Communications Limited, said there is need for the Federal Government through the DSS to institute serious investigation panel to know why Turkey wants to terrorise Nigeria.
Stating that the Nigeria Customs Service has failed to make public the names of those behind the importation of these arms into Nigeria, especially as it concerns the December and January seizures, Akinola noted that Customs and its sister agencies responsible for apprehending and prosecuting the culprits have failed in their actions.
The recent incident involving 440 pump action rifles, according to him, was not the first time such live-threatening importation is coming into Nigeria from Turkey.
“Turkey is becoming a problem for Nigeria and therefore, government should go ahead and ban importation from Turkey until the syndicate behind shipping of arms into Nigeria is discovered and adequately prosecuted,” he suggested.
It has been discovered that in several cases, the Customs management usually apprehended the cargo and the clearing agents and subsequently handed them over to the DSS for further investigation without following up to inform Nigerians whether or not the real owners of the illicit cargoes were captured.
Dennis Amaeshi, an analyst, said importation of arms and ammunition is the usual occurrence when politicians start warming up for election.
“Though it seems 2019 election is still far as we are currently in 2017, we sincerely believe that arms import is a trend that is synonymous with election preparation, especially in this part of the world where touts and thugs are used by politicians to secure positions in government,” he said.
Judging by the cards on the table, Nigerians believe that there is need for the Federal Government through the Nigerian Customs to put stringent measures in place, especially at the nation’s entry points (seaports, land border stations and airports), to ensure that such illicit imports are not allowed into the country.
The Customs, which claimed that the obsolete manual and 100 percent physical examination of cargo at the ports have helped it in blocking revenue leakages at the port, has in several of these cases of seizure had the consignment nearly escaping into the society under its watch.
This is judging by the fact that the first 661 pump action rifles were intercepted along Mile 2 axis by FOU officers, meaning that the cargo, which was destined for Apapa port, beat the watch of Customs officers at the port or was intentionally allowed out of Apapa port by corrupt Customs officers without recourse to the implication such arms would have on security of lives and property. Also, in the most recent incident, the container was said to have been released from its destination port only for it to be intercepted along the port access road by the same officers of Tin-Can Customs.
These incidents have shown the need for Customs to ensure that the scanners at the ports and border stations are returned to their functional state. The beauty of having functional scanning machines is that they not only fast-track cargo clearance at the ports but have the ability to detect the presence of illicit content in the container such as weapons.
Also, the DSS must have the will to ensure that culprits are given appropriate punishment to serve as deterrent to other wealthy Nigerians that use their wealth for importing consignments that have no developmental impact on the nation’s economy but rather result to instability in the polity.
There is also need for the government to further streamline the number of Nigerians bearing arms, both authorised and unauthorised persons. This would help to reduce danger in the polity and enthrone the desired peace the nation’s economy requires to grow by allowing the government to pay more attention and invest more resource to issues of growth rather than terrorism.
AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE
