Intelligence, Not Border Closure, Will Stop Smuggling – CGC Adeniyi Tells UI Scholars

Intelligence, Not Border Closure, Will Stop Smuggling—CGC Adeniyi Tells UI Scholars…. Customs Intercepted 399 Rifles at Tin Can Port

By Prince Benson Davies

The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Dr. Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, has said that intelligence, data, and joint patrols with neighboring countries, rather than border closure, remain the most effective way to break smuggling activities in the country.

Adeniyi made the declaration on Tuesday while delivering the 3rd Distinguished Personality Lecture of the TETFund Centre of Excellence in Security Management, TECESM, at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State.

The lecture, held at the historic Trenchard Hall, was titled Why Customs Matters: Revenue, Security, and Nationhood in a Borderless World.

The Customs boss used the platform to reveal a major operational success, disclosing that the Service intercepted 399 pump-action rifles and hundreds of firearm components concealed in a container at Tin Can Island Port, Lagos, in July 2026.

He said the container, which was aboard the vessel MV Velika, was intercepted through technology-driven intelligence and risk-management systems. According to him, the weapons have been handed over to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, while suspects connected with the seizure are facing trial at the Federal High Court.

Adeniyi also recalled that on June 21, 2024, officers intercepted 844 rifles and 112,500 rounds of ammunition at a bonded terminal in Onne Port. The arms, which arrived in a 40-foot container from Türkiye, were hidden among dolls, furniture, and plumbing fittings. He added that in February 2025, the service handed over 1,599 firearms seized between 2018 and 2024 to the same center.

He noted that investigations have shown that large consignments of arms come by sea in containers, dismantled or concealed among household goods, stressing that every rifle stopped at the quay is a rifle that never reaches a forest camp, a kidnapping gang or a polling unit.

With the 2027 general elections approaching, the Comptroller-General called for increased vigilance against arms smuggling, describing it as a threat to national security and democratic stability.

Speaking further on border management, Adeniyi argued that while many believe globalisation has made borders irrelevant, increasing international trade and interconnectedness have made effective border management more critical than ever.

He said the land border closure of August 2019 to December 2020 curbed some smuggling, but field research published this year found that the closure did not destroy smuggling networks, it only reorganised them.

The lesson, he said, is that a nation is protected by intelligent control of its border, not by sealing it. Closure, he said, is a blunt instrument, while intelligence, data and joint patrols with neighbours are sharper instruments.

On the role of Customs in nation building, the CGC identified revenue generation, national security and nationhood as the three fundamental pillars of the Service. He explained that Customs duties fund public infrastructure, education, healthcare and other essential services through allocations to the three tiers of government.

He maintained that revenue is the material base of the social contract, stressing that a nation that cannot fund itself cannot govern itself.

Adeniyi disclosed that the Service collected approximately N3.2 trillion in 2023, N6.105 trillion in 2024 and N7.28 trillion in 2025, exceeding its 2025 revenue target of N6.58 trillion. He added that in the first half of 2026, the Service has already collected about N4.03 trillion out of its N11.07 trillion target for the year, despite global tensions in the Middle East slowing cargo throughput.

He assured that the target will be pursued through compliance, data and trade facilitation, not through harassment at the ports.

The lecture was chaired by Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka, the 12th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, while the incumbent Vice-Chancellor, Professor Kayode Adebowale, served as Chief Host.