Seme, the border town separating Nigeria and Benin Republic, has since gained notoriety as a haven for smugglers, reports Bukola Afolabi who visited Cotonou, capital of Benin Republic, en route Seme recently
To say that Seme, the border community which divides Nigeria and Benin Republic, is synonymous with smuggling is not in doubt. Curiously, the border community didn’t just become notorious overnight, in fact, according to knowledgeable sources, it literally acquired that badge of dishonour centuries ago.
To the discerning mind, smuggling is what defines the essence of Seme town, but this is not exactly so for first time visitors. Like every first timer, this reporter had paid a whistled trip to Cotonou, capital of Benin Republic, en route Seme recently along with other co-travellers, who in the reporter’s reckoning were probably students attending tertiary educational institutions, traders or businessmen heading for Cotonou or Lagos, the commercial capitals of both countries, ostensibly on business trips.
A journey of discovery
A visit to the border shows that the place is in dire need of rehabilitation. The border post is so badly organised that the various security agencies, including the Nigeria Customs Service, Immigration, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and the Police, operate from mere containers instead of proper offices.
More shocking is the fact that there is no clear demarcation between the Nigerian side of the border and that of Benin. As a result, anyone could easily cross from one side to the other, as long as they have enough money to grease the palms of the perpetually greedy uniformed personnel there.
Mrs. Adebola Abiodun, a businesswoman who just started plying the route, told The Nation how and why she decided to trade along the border.
Mrs. Abiodun, who hitherto worked in one of the new generation banks, recalled that she had to quit the banking job to set up shop on her own at the instance of her husband.
”Shortly after I got married, my husband asked me to stop working. He gave me money to start business, and I decided to be selling rice in bags and it was a lucrative business idea. At a point, my sister told me about the potentials in trading to and from Cotonou and I decided to try this line of business. In the past, she used to help me to buy some of the items that I was selling but this time around I decided to follow her to see things for myself,” she began.
Expatiating, Mrs. Abiodun described with glee the modus operandi deployed by most prospective smugglers desperate to evade customs.
”When we get to the border, we would park our car very close the filling station and from that point, we would now take a bike to stamp our passport. Just before we get to where to stamp the passport we would come across different people, some in uniform as well as others who would not be in uniform. Those in uniform are the immigration men who would ask us our mission.”
Abiodun added that “the first time I went with my sister, we encountered up to five check points before getting to the point where we would stamp our documents. When I asked my sister why she gave them money, she told me that it was the norm in Seme, the border community between Nigeria and Benin.
“Interestingly, on the Benin side they too also request for money. We left time early in the morning and we got to Seme around 9am and entered Cotonou around 12pm. My sister has a regular Cotonou driver who took us to the market and it was really hectic.
By 4pm we had finished buying what we wanted. I remember that the driver asked my sister if it was the usual way and she said yes. On getting to the border on our way back in order not to pay at the border we had to contract 15 bike men to help us transport the bags of rice to Badagry.
So they carried the rice one by one and I discovered that those bike men were living in the neighbouring village of the border. So it was usually difficult for the custom men to stop them and they actually know some of these boys.”
She continued: “When we get to the boarder we would just stamp our passport and pick our car to drive down to where we are going to pick our goods.
I was surprised because those boys actually got to Badagry before us. Each bag of rice they carry is N1,500 and some can even carry two bags. Most passengers, especially those who have more bags to carry, prefer to be taken across the border in a tricycle than on a motorcycle because it is cheaper.”
Complicity of uniformed personnel
There is an appalling evidence of general complacence on the part of uniformed personnel on the Nigerian side, part of the reason why the porous nature of this border has been the cause of constant anxiety among the country’s leaders and other concerned citizens.
Between both sides of the divide, there are up to a dozen checkpoints. Illegal immigrants are allowed to pass through each checkpoint unchecked as long as they are prepared to part with some money.
The fees are not fixed but are usually determined by the security personnel at each checkpoint. You also run into Fatai Adebambo, a fabric merchant who is very familiar with the terrain. He observed that most vehicles that passed through the checkpoints and their passengers were not checked.
Obviously, the drivers of the vehicles were either well known among the security operatives, some of who wore plain clothes, or they were accompanied by hired ‘agents’ whose job is to negotiate with the former.Sometimes, an illegal immigrant could be charged as much as N10,000.
Interestingly, the naira, despite its current devalued state, is the preferred currency at the border. Even the Beninoise security operatives at the checkpoints insist on being bribed with the Nigerian currency, rather than the CFA, which is clearly less fancied.
Apart from the absence of proper vehicle routing and inspection facilities at the border, most of the Nigerian security agencies have been operating inside Beninoise territory since 2001.
Unconfirmed reports also revealed that customs officials have preference for female smugglers, with whom they have dalliance, a weakness most smugglers now explore.
“Smugglers use more of the female transporters since the customs officers allegedly release the smuggled goods, especially when such goods are also owned by women,” a source revealed.
Loss of revenue
Seme, described as Nigeria’s busiest land border and source of internally generated revenue for the country, ironically is also partly responsible for the decrease in revenue recorded by the Nigerian government as a result of the rise in smuggling activities.
Corroborating this view, a customs officer who would not be named said it is true that the border town has led to loss of revenue for government as a result of the nefarious activities of smugglers.
He, however, said it was heartening to note that the customs service had been able to achieve an increase in the revenue from the border post in recent times.
“About N2 billion was recorded as revenue from that end in the last few months. There is still evidence that the country loses a huge sum of money to smuggling every year.”
Burgeoning trade in second hand goods
The border is particularly notorious for car smuggling as there are several smuggling rings operating in the area.Most of them operate side by side with some of the licensed auto marts.A case in point is a popular car mart otherwise known as ‘Britain’.
It is divided into three equally large sections, namely Senkanji, Mefo, Ritis, Zone Fifa, Autodiale and Al Madina. The complex is owned by a group of businessmen licensed by the Beninoise government.
A guide conducted The Nation on a tour of some bush tracks used by smugglers to transport Tokunbo vehicles from Benin to Nigeria. “Usually the smugglers prefer to enter Nigeria just before midnight,” a source said.Rice also sells like hot cake too.
David Ejim, another rice seller, told The Nation that the uniform men on this route are not helping matters.”The fact that the government has banned importation of rice, how does this rice get into the market? Those of us that ply this route discover that custom men do help these smugglers very well because it is a matter of cash.”
According to Ejim, “They (customs officials) actually open the border for them at midnight to bring in their goods from 12midnight to 2am. That is when you will see them driving through the bush tracks.”
He pointed out that the tracks eventually lead to Owode, Idi-Iroko or any of the 54 routes recently identified by the Ogun State Command of the NCS.
At the Benin end of the Seme border, the Krake Market has serviced the needs of the residents of the border community, as well as traders from Nigeria, for many years.
Here, the main items sold include sugar, fruits, rice and frozen foods. Its strategic position right at the border somewhat suggests that it thrives on the greed of itinerant smugglers, young men and women eager to earn quick money, and their accomplices among the uniformed personnel manning the checkpoints.”
If you are friendly with the security men, you will have little problem crossing to the market to buy whatever you need,” informed Monsieur Sebastian Cakpo, a resident of Seme.
This obvious interdependence between the traders at the market and the Badagry – and the security men who naturally augment their earnings with the illicit pickings from illegal immigrants.
These Tokunbo goods which are either legal or contraband are usually bought at a relatively cheaper price in Benin Republic for consumption and sale in Nigerian markets.
These goods, although cheap, require tax excise duties to be paid for them to be imported into Nigeria, but most Nigerian trans-border business owners take to smuggling as the last resort for importing goods when they cannot afford the payment of tax duties.
But as smugglers risk their lives in search of livelihood, they are met with the Nigerian Custom Service who are deployed to control the influx of contraband goods into the country.
The smugglers who have mastered this illicit trade employ different mode of operation in order to scale these security checks by adopting different smuggling tactics.The modus operandi of these smugglers differs depending on the merchandise being smuggled.
Car smugglers usually move in convoy, driving recklessly through the bush-path to avoid the custom officials who might seize their consignment because of their failure to obtain task clearance for these Tokunbo vehicles.
Rice/textile material smugglers stock their stuff vehicle seats and compartment in order to scale the security checks, while jewellery smugglers stuff their merchandise in their hand bags, and other ridiculous places to beat the strenuous checks on the road.
These smugglers who trade in different items like rice, frozen foods, shoes and bags, used clothes, used cars, are usually battle ready for the custom officers who man the border post. These smugglers are up to the task of confronting the gun touting officers of the Nigerian Custom Service with their arsenal of dangerous weapons of guns and charms.
Most confrontations between customs officials and smugglers sometimes lead to the loss of lives/seizure of goods from these smugglers, though sometimes casualties are recorded on the side of the custom officials.
Terrorism ring
It is also being speculated that such routes are also used to smuggle in arms and ammunition, a trend that is believed to have possibly far-reaching consequences for the current war against terrorism in Nigeria and indeed the West African sub-region.
