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Tag: Illicit trade

  • How illicit trade hurts economy, real sector

    The adverse effect of illicit trade is unquantifiable. It is taking a toll on the economy and the operations of manufacturers. From loss of huge tax revenue and income to the government and manufacturers to damage to long built brand reputation and serious health risks to consumers, illicit trade may have become a hard nut to crack. But, at a roundtable in Lagos, experts brainstormed on how to curb the trade. CHARLES OKONJI reports.

    For standards regulatory authorities, revenue generating agencies, consumers and private sector operators, particularly manufacturers, the fear of illicit trade (IT) is, perhaps, the beginning of wisdom.

    Despite measures so far put in place to halt, or at least minimise the booming trade in the production and distribution of consumer goods that violate the rules and regulations governing the relevant industry and regulatory authorities in Nigeria, IT has refused to abate.

    Rather, the trade, which covers a wide range of goods and brands, ranging from electronics, apparel, alcoholic drinks to vehicles and auto parts, drugs, arms, pharmaceuticals, cigarettes, counterfeit currencies, as well as humans, appears to have assumed a life of its own, leaving sour taste in the mouths of various stakeholders in the economy.

    For instance, it has continued to force a reduction or loss of huge tax revenue to the government. Genuine manufacturers and other local businesses are also groaning over the reduction in market share. Many local businesses whose profitability has nosedived as a result, have also been screaming blue murder over the colossal damage foisted on their brand image by the thriving IT.

    Consumes appear worse hit, as the proliferation of fake and substandard goods have virtually taken over from the genuine ones, posing serious health risks to end users. Because IT thrives in the underground economy, the unwholesome business naturally does not reflect in the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    These must be why experts and economic analysts describe illicit trade, which permeates virtually every product category and industry, as avoidable economic cankerworm, which is not only destroying businesses in the country, but also militating against Nigeria’s economic growth and development.

     

    The imperatives of curbing IT

    Globally, illicit trade accounted for between eight per cent and 15 per cent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) valued at $12 trillion in 2015, according to the World Economic Forum.

    A Senior Research Officer, Initiative for Public Policy Analysis (IPPA), Mr. Olusegun Sotola, also said, according to the United Nations estimate, more than $1billion is illicitly traded in small arms alone in Africa, fuelling the increasing conflict and criminal activities in the region.

    Sotola, in his opening remarks at a policy roundtable discussion titled: “Business environment & excise duty: Maximising economic opportunities through effective anti-Illicit trade enforcement” said IPPA was of the view that illicit trade was largely policy induced, while tax and tariff, for example, often create perverse incentives for illicit trade.

    He explained that the essence of the forum was to show the underlying factors responsible for the growth of illicit trade, the danger associated with it and the economic dis-incentives it creates for local industries, the accompanying revenue loss it has caused the government and undermining healthcare delivery.

    A Senior Research Fellow at IPPA and don at the University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom (UK), Dr. Olajide Damilola, said Nigeria’s absence in the world ranking on IT as captured by the Global Illicit Trade Index (GITEI) was worrisome.

    GITEI is the global body rating countries on illicit trade. Nigeria’s absence in GITEI’s ranking, according to Damilola, was as a result of unavailability of data. He said the paucity of data was even more precarious because the trade could be causing serious harm to the economy unnoticed and a big scare to prospective investors.

    The expert said as an emerging economy laden with socio-economic obstacles, the challenges of doing business in Nigeria were many and they affect the growth of the economy as well as make it difficult to attract investors and successful investment.

    “The challenges range from multiple infrastructural inadequacy, policy inconsistencies, corruption, insecurity, bureaucratic bottlenecks, infringements on rule of law and sometimes a lack of political will to implement business friendly policies,” Damilola said.

    The Senior Research Fellow stated: “In such an adverse environment, companies operating legally as net economic contributors deserve government encouragement and protection of their goods and services from losing commercial viability to illicit perpetrators.”

    According to him, Nigeria needs to urgently work on the critical factors encouraging IT in order not to compound the economy’s problems. He listed some of the factors to include government policy, supply and demand of illicit products, transparency and trade environment and customs enforcement.

    In addressing the problem, Damilola advised that certain questions must be answered to properly direct policy at the fight.These include government action or inaction that creates incentives for illicit trade to thrive in the country.

    He added that there was the need to ask the following questions: “How do we benefit from illicit trade compared to the costs? What categories of GITEI should Nigeria aim to improve upon?”

    Other industry operators and experts who spoke at the roundtable agreed that a holistic approach was required to curb the trade, which also involves strategies beyond the Nigeria’s jurisdiction.

    Some of them noted that illicit trade is a global phenomenon whose solution should be global in nature, adding that the preferred global approach to combating the trade, which Nigeria should be part of, should be aimed at international cooperation and harmonisation of laws and regulations beyond borders.

    While citing the global fight against money laundering as a typical example, they, however, cautioned that in opting for this approach to the fight against illicit trade ravaging the economy, Nigeria should not rush into signing the controversial African Continental Free Trade Area agreement (ACFTA).

    The AfCFTA was designed to create a continental trade bloc of 1.2 billion Africans, with a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of about $3 trillion. It was adopted by the 18th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in January 2012.

    The agreement was seen as an important milestone in promoting Africa’s regional integration and helping to increase intra-African trade, which was at 16 to 17 per cent, by more than 52 per cent, worth about $35 billion per year.

    AfCFTA commits African countries to phasing out tariffs on 90 per cent of goods, with 10 per cent of “sensitive items” to be phased out incrementally. It will also liberalise trade in services, while also signaling a step towards building strong regional value chains.

    Forty-four out of 55 African leaders ratified the AfCFTA at an Extra-ordinary Summit of the AU Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda, on March 21. Nine other AU members, including Nigeria and South Africa, delayed accent to the treaty.

    President Muhammadu Buhari was earlier scheduled to travel to Kigali to ratify the trade deal, which is easily the largest trade agreement since the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1994. But he backtracked on the opposition of the OPS who said they were not consulted.

    But at the IPPA roundtable, a Consultant with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Dr. John Isemede, said the government must not succumb to pressures to sign the agreement until some identified gray areas are taken care of.

    Isemede, a former Director- General of Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), said there was the need to explore the salient issue of Nigeria’s comparative advantage in such an arrangement to avoid making the country a dumping ground for goods and services.

    His words: “The country is already overloaded with imports. I am not saying the Federal Government should not sign at all, but to put the necessary infrastructure on ground, something to sell, something to offer before rushing into the agreement.

    “The tea you sip comes from Kenya, the Titus fish you eat every day comes from Morocco, there is Shoprite here and there owned by South Africans. The majority of the products sold is imported from South Africa and with the South African Airline. What is Nigeria bringing to the table and what are we going to sell?”

    According to the UNIDO consultant, the government should review the membership of the 20-member committee to review the proposed agreement to allow the OPS take centre stage. The government, he added, should also fix infrastructure by getting the transport sector especially the rail system up and running.

    Isemede also said more local industries must begin to think more of export, while the government should consider the coming back of Commodity Board to optimise the nation’s comparative advantage.

    “You know that the Nigerian market is the target of AfCFTA because of its size. To me, signing ACFTA without putting the necessary things in place and without more involvement of the OPS is like a landlord handing over his Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) to the tenant,” he warned.

    It is easy to see the connection between the thriving IT and Isemede’s insistence that Nigeria must tread with caution over the controversial AfCFTA. The thinking of some experts is that, if Nigeria throws its doors wide open in the spirit of the proposed trade liberalisation deal, perpetrators of IT might cash in on the situation to continue their trade.

    The thinking is that combating the influx of prohibited goods and the harm they cause to the economy may have already become a hard nut to crack by the authorities. And this was why the Buhari administration is struggling with whether or not to sign the ACFTA deal.

    Although the Federal Government has said African countries are targeting the Nigerian market for the implementation of ACFTA, it was being careful by not hastily signing the agreement for the good of the economy. But pressures are still mounting from some quarters for the government to soft pedal.

  • Illicit trade: Blame regulatory failure not porous borders, says UNIDO consultant

    A United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) consultant, John Isemede, has said the influx of fake and substandard goods into the country is not due to the nation’s porous borders but poor regulatory framework by the Nigeria Customs.

    He said the Customs should be held accountable for the substandard goods found in every nook and cranny of the country, as it is the agency saddled with the responsibility of checking imports.

    Isemede stated this at a roundtable on “Business Environment & Excise Duty: Maximising economic opportunities through effective anti-illicit trade enforcement”, organised in Lagos by the Initiative For Public Policy Analysis (IPPA) during the week.

    He accused Customs officers of compromising the national assignment for self aggrandisement, stressing that they only confiscate and impound the goods of those who fail to pay their way through.

    The UNIDO consultant said that Seme Border was the busiest in Africa, adding that the volume of illicit trade going on there was alarming.

    He said the country was overloaded with imports, adding that policy enforcement on illicit trade should be intensified.

    Isemede advised that the government should review the membership of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA)  such that the Organised Private Sector (OPS) will take centre stage in contrast with the current arrangement with paucity of infrastructure.

    He added that the government could also consider the coming back of the Commodity Board to optimise the nation’s comparative advantage.

    In his presentation, a senior researcher and fellow at IPPA and University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom (UK), Olajide Damilola, noted that Nigeria was yet to be captured by the Global Illicit Trade Index (GITEI), the body rating countries on illegal trade, due to unavailability of data.

    He outlined some of the critical factors considered to be contributing to illicit trade as government policy, supply and demand of illicit products, lack of transparency and trade environment and Customs enforcement.

    Isemede pointed out that illicit trade was a global phenomenon whose solution should be global in nature, with international cooperation and harmonisation of laws and regulations beyond borders. He cited the global fight against money laundering as an example.

    He recommended that a holistic approachwas required which would involve strategies beyond the jurisdiction of a country, stating that there can be no single policy framework to address the problem but a case-to-case approach targeting products.

  • Obaseki to sign human trafficking Bill into Law

    …As donor conference holds in Abuja Wednesday

     

    Following the timely passage of the bill for the prohibition of trafficking in persons into law by the Edo State House of Assembly, the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, is set to sign the document and set the stage for a legal onslaught on perpetrators of the illicit trade in the state.

    The signing ceremony will take place in Abuja, Wednesday, on the sidelines of the international donor conference organised by Edo State Government in partnership with the United Nations and other international development partners.

    The law, which is a product of series of consultations by the Obaseki administration, following observed gaps in the existing legal frameworks on human trafficking, also provides for the establishment of the Edo State Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons.

    The document with federal government laws, adapted to deal with the state’s peculiar challenges, is made up of 80 sections. It will send offenders to a period of not less than five years imprisonment, amongst other provisions.

    Read Also: Who ends human trafficking in Edo: Benin monarch, govt. or the church?

    Explaining the sudden drop in the numbers of victims of human trafficking, Obaseki said: “We have been very honest about this fight from the onset. We admitted that we have a problem that is claiming a frightening proportion of our youth population and as responsible leaders and parents, we cannot fold our arms and watch it continue.”

    He added: “Our engagements with the international community, the traditional institution, the clergy, parents and guardians, trade and professional groups and the law makers, are paying off.

    According to the governor, Edo State has taken up the fight head on, with several of the state’s youth population lured into slavery in Libya, while thousands died either in the Sahara Desert or in the Mediterranean as they attempt to cross the sea to Europe.

    “Less than six months of our honest and strategic engagement of critical stakeholders like the traditional institution, the clergy, market men and women, students and youth, the figures of victims of human trafficking have ebbed and the incidence is losing popularity daily.”

    He further said that while the Task Force on Human Trafficking is combing the state for members of the ring perpetuating the illicit trade to arrest and prosecute them, the traditional institution headed by the Benin Monarch, Oba Ewuare II, has since placed a weighty curse on anyone that engages in the inhuman activity.

    According to the governor, the clergy community is leading the battle from the pulpit, sensitising members of their respective congregations about the dangers associated with human trafficking.

    For the returnees from Libya and elsewhere, most of whom were evacuated by the federal government and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the European Union, the Edo State government has in place a rehabilitation programme that includes a monthly stipend of N20,000 for each returnee, an empowerment package that has a training component, after which they are given starter packs.

  • Wanted: Stricter regulation against illicit trade

    Wanted: Stricter regulation against illicit trade

    The boom in illicit trade, especially in tobacco, is hurting the economy. Apart from costing the country a revenue loss of over N140 billion annually, the business, which permeates all the sectors, is eroding the competitiveness of locally-manufactured brands. Consumers are also getting increasingly apprehensive over the health hazards of consuming products of dubious quality. This has prompted calls for stricter regulation and enforcement to halt the unwholesome trade that is posing a serious problem to Nigeria’s industrialisation. Assistant Editor MUYIWA LUCAS reports.

    It’s an ill wind that blows no sector any good. From pharmaceutical to telecoms, food, beverage and tobacco, and manufacturing, operators in virtually all the sectors, including the Federal Government, are feeling the heat of the flourishing illicit trade, especially in counterfeits and substandard goods. While it is seriously undermining the viability and competitiveness of locally- manufactured brands, leaving a sour taste in the mouths of local manufacturers, it has also continued to deprive the Federal Government of huge revenue. Illicit trade is also undermining the regulatory interventions of its agencies. For instance, government loses an estimated N140 billion annually to the menace, with illegal  trade in tobacco taking the lion share, according to the Federal Internal Revenue Service (FIRS).

    The thriving illicit trade in fake and substandard products has also left consumers holding the short end of the stick. Nigerians are getting increasingly apprehensive over the health hazards of consuming products of dubious quality, especially tobacco. The traditional and social media is awash with stories of avoidable deaths caused by the consumption of adulterated products. The death toll of people who died after consuming a popular local gin called ‘Ogogoro’ in Ondo and Rivers states, recently, brought nearer home the health dangers of consuming fake and adulterated products. Although the Federal Government swiftly banned the popular gin, the action did not go down well with local producers of Ogogoro.

    The producers under their umbrella organisation, Raw Gin Producers Association of Nigeria (RGPAN), urged the Federal Government not to ban the local gin following what they referred to as isolated cases of deadly poisoning from its consumption in some states.

    Its Chairman, Mr. Aritson Kroboakpo, said the local brewing and consumption of native gin pre-dated independence, and could, therefore, not be injurious to human health. But he added a caveat: unless when adulterated. This is instructive. It underscores the fact that adulteration of products is not peculiar to local gin alone; any product including tobacco can be adulterated.

    Tobacco industry hit

    The food, beverage and tobacco sector of the economy is a major point for smugglers and illicit traders. In the tobacco sector, illicit trading is high with about 80 per cent of cigarettes brought into the country illegally. However, the coming of the British American Tobacco (BAT) Nigeria into the country has over the years helped in reducing the preponderance level to 20 per cent. This, which has been made possible through BAT’s consistent collaboration with regulatory bodies, ensured that revenue and excise duty payments are not avoided.

    The Nation learnt that the tobacco sector, like pharmaceuticals, is delicate because it affects the well-being of the consumers of the products. Of all the consumables, the tobacco industry is particularly affected due to strict regulation and suppression. This creates a new source of demand, which smuggled goods appear to fill. But in doing so, the health of consumers is usually compromised.

    Jamiu Arogundade, a social commentator, blames the growing illicit trade on Nigeria’s several porous borders. According to him, goods are mostly smuggled into Nigeria through Benin Republic, which serves as the main market for Malaysian and Chinese goods includimg tobacco that are smuggled through sea and land borders. “Goods loaded at Benin Republic the previous day will be ready for sale in all the major Nigerian markets early morning the very next day. In the Northern part of Nigeria, there is a desert through which goods can be smuggled easily,” he said.

    Government’s policy summersault has also been blamed for the thriving illicit trade. For instance, a few years ago, government placed a ban on the importation of textiles into the country, only to reverse the decision; ditto for the ban on the importation of all lubricants needed by the Nigerian industries. But, this ban, rather than reduce the activities of smugglers, made it more lucrative. After the ban, goods are still being smuggled into Nigeria without any taxes paid, thus making government’s efforts fruitless.

     

    Textiles also affected

    The local textile industry is also agonising over the effects of influx of substandard foreign made textiles into the country. Anyone who visits Nigeria for the first time will be impressed by the shear ingenuity and creativeness of operators in the local textile industry.

    The colourful elegance, richness, artistic qualities, style, and texture of Nigerian textiles were second to none. That was in the early 1980s when the local textile industries were at its peak with over 124 companies in existence. All these have since changed. Despite the boom in the global textile trade, these local industries are fast diminishing in Nigeria because of the inflow of smuggled foreign textile products into the Nigerian markets.

    Indeed, the impact of illicit trading on local manufacturing is so intense that it has led to stiff competition arising from the massive dumping of basic but substandard consumables from Asia against locally produced goods. Some experts blame this trend on prolonged military rule, which led to the opening up of the economy to influx of foreign goods, either through dumping or smuggling. “That started the decline in productive activities in the land. Those that were not strong enough to compete felt it was easier and cheaper to go into trading, hence they went into importation and trading and the few that chose to remain in manufacturing eventually died due to the harsh economic conditions,” Alhaji Alli Madugu, Vice President, Small and Medium Industries, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), said.

    Madugu explained that large quantities of both new and second hand garments from Asian countries now flood the Nigerian markets, thereby placing domestic markets under a major threat of going into extinction from smugglers importing cheaper textile fabrics from other countries and selling them at a price lower than the market price of garments manufactured locally.

    The effect of this, he said, is the closure of over 65 textile mills and lay-off of over 1.5 million workers employed by the textile industry in the last two decades. Textile workers also lament that apart from direct job losses, over one million indirect jobs have been lost. Mostly affected are cotton farmers, traders, and suppliers etc who have lost their source of revenue as a result of the shutdown of textile mills across the country.

    A textile dealer in Balogun Market, Lagos, Kudirat Animashaun, said quality of textiles from Asian countries fall short of what is produced by the few surviving textile firms in Nigeria. According to her, most of the textile products coming from these countries contain hazardous chemicals that are used for waxing and printing the clothes. “Garments with wax prints are very popular in Africa. These clothes are manufactured specifically for smuggling and hence do not adhere to the quality standards. Many chemicals used in printing these kinds of clothes are banned by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) because they are harmful to human skin, but they are used in clothes and are sold at a very cheap price in the market,” she explained.

    Animashaun expressed regrets that quite a number of Nigerians are unaware of the health hazards associated with using such substandard garments, which is why they rush to buy imported clothes due to their low prices and the perception that imported clothes are better than locally manufactured clothes.

     

    How illicit trade affects industrialisation

    According to experts, trade in illegally or unethically procured goods, otherwise known as illicit trade, covers a range of activities, from illegal trade in natural resources, the supply of counterfeit goods, smuggling of contraband goods, trade in illegal drugs and weapons, to trafficking in humans.

    Due to Nigeria’s large population, which presents a viable market for goods and services, many manufacturers and product owners have reaped the benefits of faking or counterfeiting products in huge quantity.

    However, in doing so, they put the nation’s industrialisation drive in reverse gear, as their activities pose significant threats to successful businesses that would have added their quota to the industrialisation drive.

    Specifically, illicit trade, and especially trade in counterfeits and substandard goods, undermines the viability of manufacturing firms in the African region, especially Nigeria. There are a number of cases where leading industrial firms in Nigeria have come close to total closure. The effects of illicit trade result in the market being saturated with fake products which are sub-standard to the consumer and in cases of products like drugs, food and other consumable items, the repercussions could be more injurious.

    For the manufacturers and product owners, the effects are losses for the company in terms of profits, while government loses huge revenue in terms of taxes on products in the industry. For instance, in 2009 alone, giant telecommunications manufacturer Nokia was reported to have lost almost $20 billion to illicit trade in counterfeit devices.

    Furthermore, Africa Investor Magazine in its July- August 2010 edition estimated the value of counterfeits in Kenya in 2009 at US$ 642 million. It also put the value in South Africa at $ 402 million and in Nigeria at about $219 million. These amounts are all lost in annual tax revenues because of the preponderance of counterfeit products.

     

    All eyes on regulators, govt agencies

    Recently, the Anti-Counterfeiting Collaboration (ACC) in Nigeria, and the Association of Nigerian Representatives of Overseas Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (NIROPHARM) in conjunction with the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and other stakeholders in the pharmaceutical industry came together to draw public attention to the dangers of counterfeit drugs and the effects of counterfeiting on the nation’s economy.

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is the government agency saddled with the responsibility of ensuring standards of goods manufactured locally or imported into the country. Although, SON has had to destroy several seized substandard products, Animashaun and other stakeholders say the agency needs to put in more efforts to deter defaulters who are only interested in making extra cash at the expense of the Nigerian economy and citizens.

    “Defaulters need to be properly prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others engaged in illicit trade or fake and substandard products.

    ‘’Other government agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Consumer Protection Council (CPC), and Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) should also work in collaboration to strengthen our weak borders and keep an eagle eye on goods that come into the country through the nation’s borders,” she said.

    Another analyst said there is need for more proactive approach by government in tackling illicit trade. In doing so, the analysts, who chose to be anonymous, said Nigeria would be learning from the experience of the government of Switzerland, which took drastic measures to curtail the menace of illicit trade, which had threatened to castrate its “Swiss Watch” industry.

    Switzerland’s Swiss watch industry is reputed as the nation’s cash cow. Before the move against illicit trade in that country, its watch industry was losing several billions of dollars to the activities of illicit traders in fake and substandard Swiss wrist watches. In 2010, for instance, about 7,000 replica Rolex watches were said to have been crushed with a steamroller and the culprits were sent to jail for six months.

    “Illicit trade is a menace in Nigeria and the world at large. This affects all industries as well as intellectual property owners. It harms brands, damages businesses, promotes criminality, misleads consumers into buying products of dubious quality, and ultimately could harm consumers. It also deprives the Federal Government of revenue and undermines the regulatory regimes of the government agencies,” the analyst said, enjoining the Nigerian authorities to borrow a leaf from Switzerland.

    “Defaulters need to be properly prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others engaged in illicit trade or fake and substandard products, Other government agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Consumer Protection Council (CPC), and Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) should also work in collaboration to strengthen our weak borders and keep an eagle eye on goods that come into the country through the nation’s borders”

    He added that a well-structured policy on regulation and an enforcement approach to blocking loopholes along the nation’s several porous borders would do the tricks. According to him, research studies have shown that countries that have recorded steady reduction in illicit trade, smuggling and counterfeiting have a well-structured policy on regulation and enforcement. He said this is the only way Nigeria can be one of these countries.

    He however, warned that if Nigeria does not move against illicit trade effectively, her dream of industrialisation may never materialise.

    Other repercussions, he pointed out, will be loss of investments, jobs, tax revenues, including innocent lives that would be lost as a result of consumption of fake products.

    “The thriving illicit trade in fake and substandard products has also left consumers holding the short end of the stick. Nigerians are getting increasingly apprehensive over the health hazards of consuming products of dubious quality, especially tobacco”

     

  • BATN, SON, others seek stiffer penalties against illicit trade

    BATN, SON, others seek stiffer penalties against illicit trade

    British American Tobacco, Nigeria (BATN), in a concerted effort with other stakeholders from the public and organised private sectors, has advocated for a new regime of stiffer penalties and sanctions as a panacea that will address the ills and menace of illicit trade in the country.

    BATN, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Manufacturers association of Nigeria (MAN) and Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) all agreed that this was the way out for the country in a forum organised by the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CICAN), to x-ray the impact of illicit trade on Nigeria’s economy and also proffer viable solutions to the menace.

    Sola Dosunmu, Head of Regulatory Affairs British American Tobacco (West Africa), stated that the major reason illicit trade thrives is the economic opportunity it offers for the smuggler and illicit vendor to make money and also for the consumer to save money.

    He disclosed that the company’s collaboration with enforcement authorities such as the SON, Customs and the CPC has yielded considerable results in reducing illicit trade; increased revenue to the government through taxes; seizure and destruction of approximately $10m worth of illicit cigarettes between 2008 and 2013.

    In his remarks, the Director General of SON, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, noted that if importers and exporters do the right thing that is by complying with all the relevant laws, there would be no nuisance of smuggling.

    “The challenge is on the doorstep of all importers, if we are able to curb the menace of unscrupulous importers then we would have solved about 70 per cent of the menace of smuggling in Nigeria. We need stiffer and heavier forms of sanctions across the value chain starting from the importers which is better than just destroying these smuggled goods,” he said.

    In his address, the acting DG of MAN, Rasheed Adegbenro, also recommended the impositions of relevant sanctions across the value chain such as on dealers and shipping/air freighting companies to discourage trade malpractices.

    According to,, Dr. John Isemede, the Director General of NACCIMA, trade was the basis to consider the menace of smuggling as it borders on both import and export activities. However, he stressed that the Nigerian customs service has the bulk of responsibility as the country’s gatekeepers in curbing smuggling.

    The DG of LCCI, in his presentation noted stressed that only a holistic approach can be used to address the menace of smuggling through the creation of enforceable policies within the environment that we find ourselves; addressing the current weak infrastructure which increases cost of production and increasing local content addition in the production of goods.

    Assistant controller of Customs, Edema Albert, who represented the Comptroller General of Customs, noted that besides statutory collection of revenue, they were using technology to checkmate smuggling through a unified single window process that strives to minimize human contact to the barest minimum in order to eliminate incidences of document falsification and under-invoicing.

    Earlier, the chairman of CICAN, Toba Agboola, stated that the negative effects of smuggling were felt in the economic, environmental and social settings of a nation.