BEBE, an outpost of Benin Republic has an aversion for the lily livered. Only the lion-hearted ply its windy road which connects with Zomi Road and peters out at the Ajegunle axis of Ipokia Local Government Area, Ogun State. Swamps and rainforest span the four-kilometre road with potholes and ditches dotting its pathways. It is a terrain for smugglers, especially trans-border petrol smugglers who travel the road early in the morning twice a week—Wednesday and Saturday.
A lot of things can kill on Bebe road. From reckless motorcyclists moving contrabands including petrol in jerry cans and running at neck-breaking speed to convoys of smuggled cars fleeing from border patrols of Customs and other security agents manoeuvring their ways through the ditches. Bystanders and villagers are often knocked down, killed or injured by the smugglers while trying to flee from Nigerian law enforcement agents whose sporadic gunshots send jitters down the spines of residents.
The activities of smugglers are believed to be responsible for the low population of the community which lacks basic social amenities like good roads, water and health facilities, among others. The community also acts as the haven of porters and youths from Nigeria who flock there to work as load carriers for smugglers for a fee.
The community’s notorious road starts from a point close to a university founded by a Nigerian don at Banigbe, Benin Republic. The reporter had joined a group of petrol smugglers who were on a trip to the community to place an order for new jerry cans and sundry items on July 29.
”You are a Nigerian. Why are you visiting Bebe through Banigbe instead of going through the Idiroko checkpoint of the Nigeria Customs Service,” the driver of the car, Weme Boni asked the reporter.
“Things are hard in the country. I learnt there are menial jobs I can do there, so I am going to Bebe to see if I can get a job,” the reporter responded.
Apparently convinced by the reporter’s explanation, the driver demanded CFA 1000 (N647) as fare and the journey began at 5.30 am with the car moving tempestuously on the undulating road.
It had rained in the night. So, as the Golf 3 car that conveyed the reporter and other passengers ran through the floods on the road, a number of villagers emerged from the dotting bushes on the sideways trekking home.
The villagers were soon out of sight and a convoy of smugglers moving petrol on motorcycles in big yellow jerry cans and racing through the floods of dirty water they also splashed on the car.
”That is what makes smuggling tick. Time is of essence because a moment of slack could be costly. It could land a smuggler in the dragnet of Customs and border security forces,” said one of the passengers.
After a long drive, the car approached a checkpoint and was flagged down by a Beninese policeman.
”My name is Zoglo,” he politely introduced himself in smattering English. ”What do you have for me,” he asked with a cheery smile. As soon as the driver handed him a N200 note, he removed a straw of bamboo used to barricade the road and asked us to pass.
”I don’t know the fascination. They (Beninese policemen) prefer collecting bribe in naira,” Boni said as he raced the car from the checkpoint.
At the centre of the community, there were piles of yellow jerry cans on both sides of the four-kilometre road. It serves as the hub of jerry can traders who sell them to petrol smugglers for as low as N300 equivalent of CFA franc.
A few metres away from the centre of the community lies a checkpoint manned by Nigerian mobile policemen. The minions of law were seen relaxing on a wooden sofa under their tent while a Customs checkpoint is located near the junction of Zomi Road, which connects with Bebe road from Ajegunle area of Ipokia Local Government Area, Ogun State on the Nigerian frontier.
Zomi Road snakes through a row of buildings near Jolaco Petrol Station in Ajegunle to Idiroko Road, which leads to the Nigeria Customs Service checkpoint bordering Benin Republic. It is the easiest road to Benin Republic but one most avoided by smugglers because of the heavy presence of security operatives.
However, some of the buildings on Zomi Road in the Ajegunle axis of Ipokia Local Government Area provide a shade for petrol smugglers. There are ‘hidden’ bush paths behind them, which lead to Bebe and other communities in Benin Republic.
The five hours the reporter spent in the community revealed how trans-border petrol smugglers operate, beat Nigerian security operatives and move unhindered into Benin Republic.
Bush paths/confusing routes
Investigation revealed several routes used by petrol smugglers taking the product from Nigeria to Benin Republic. They avoid the main road (Zomi) which connects the road to Bebe because of the heavy presence of security operatives including the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), police, Immigration, Joint Border Patrol, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and State Security Service (SSS).
Ajegunle has two other bypasses including New Road and Iko Gate Road beside Iko Gate Grammar School. The routes afford the petrol smugglers the chance to move into the francophone country without being seen or trailed by Nigerian security operatives that man the border.
There are several of such illegal routes in Ipokia LGA. For example, the Egua-Oja Odan-Ilase, a 104-kilometre road, connects four local government areas, namely Yewa South, Yewa North, Imeko Afon and Ipokia, all in Ogun State.
The road is used by the syndicate controlling the Oja Odan petrol smuggling ring by connecting to it through Ihunbo, Igborodo, Ayetoro, Akojaga Road, Ilashe, Koko Road, Ogosa, Araromi and Ajilete.
Our reporter’s investigation during a visit to the communities revealed that petrol smugglers escape from the security operatives either by veering into the bypasses or bush paths they created to Igbeji creeks, a stone’s throw from Benin Republic, or Oja Odan and Ijoun where the two countries are only separated by a river.
The situation is compounded by the uncooperative attitude of the villagers who see no problem with their youths engaging in the illicit business. It was gathered that the villagers most times withhold information on the smugglers when requested by Customs and other security operatives.
”We don’t see anything wrong in jobless youths engaging in smuggling so long as they don’t steal. Everyone knows that there is a high rate of unemployment in Nigeria. If we cannot provide jobs for our teeming jobless youths, we should not discourage them from doing a job that they have found since it is not stealing or robbery. The only thing we do is to advise them to be careful when carrying out their duties,” said a community leader in Oja Odan, Chief Samuel Akinyemi.
How they evade arrest
Most of the roads are very difficult terrains for security surveillance or patrol, as some of them are specifically designed by smugglers for their nocturnal activities. Some are designed as footpaths only to widen at further distance. Some routes are designed with ditches.
A suspected petrol smuggler who was in the community to inspect new jerry cans he had ordered said: “Petrol smugglers don’t fall into those ditches because we know the terrain like the back of our palms and move petrol in jerry cans with our motorcycles with ease.
“Moreover, we created the ditches by ourselves. Only the border patrol teams fall into the ditches when they are chasing us. And whenever we realise they are up to our game, we devise new ploys to make it impossible for them to come after us. Many patrol vehicles have packed up on our routes.
“That is why the border patrol acquire mostly Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and trucks. But even those can hardly withstand so much.”
Once the petrol smugglers escape on their motorbikes through the bush paths or bypasses into hamlets in Bebe in Benin Republic, the Nigerian security operatives cannot arrest them. They are then mocked by the smugglers who resort to making jest of them.
”It is difficult to arrest petrol smugglers because once they escape through the bush paths into some villages at the frontier of Benin Republic, they would start mocking us because they know that it is against the rule of border patrol to cross into another country with arms to apprehend an offender,” said a senior Nigerian Customs officer who asked not to be named.
Also, to beat eagle eye security operatives, the petrol smugglers usually fill a number of jerry cans with petrol mixed with water and abandon them when they are being chased or trailed on the bush paths or bypasses. The smugglers abandon such adulterated fuel in jerry cans and escape with good ones. The unsuspecting security operatives would then think that they have impounded the products and celebrate the ‘seizures’ in the media while the smugglers escape with undiluted products into Benin Republic.
Normally, the seized products are sold by Customs with the proceeds remitted into the national purse. But adulterated fuel abandoned by petrol smugglers cannot be sold, hence, they are thrown away by Nigerian Customs men at the Idiroko Area Command.
”They mix petrol with water while moving them across the border into Benin Republic. They abandon some kegs filled with adulterated fuel and escape with the rest while we think that we have made seizures. The smugglers are aware that the seizures are sold to the public and the proceeds are remitted into the coffers of the federal government, hence, they adulterate the petrol in order to prevent us from selling the product,” the customs officer added.
Another daring ploy designed by the trans-border petrol smugglers to frustrate security agents is the planting of locally made spikes on some bypasses or bush paths to demobilise the operational vehicles of Customs men on their trail. Customs men and security operatives get trapped by the spikes while the smugglers move their products into Benin Republic.
The Customs Area Controller, Nigeria Customs Service, Ogun State Command, Comptroller Waindu Multafu, in a chat with our reporter, said: ”The spikes are usually buried to a certain level by smugglers on their illegal routes in order to demobilise the vehicles of customs officers on their trail. They bury them to a certain level on their illegal routes so that we don’t see them. In spite of this, 240 kegs of petroleum products were seized from trans-border petrol smugglers recently.”
”In view of this development, the command has restructured its operational strategies with a view to optimally achieving its core statutory mandates of revenue collection, anti-smuggling campaigns and trade facilitation, among other collaborative functions.”
Experts proffer solutions
The continued smuggling of petrol products to the Republic of Benin by syndicates from Nigeria is seen by experts as unbecoming and one that portends doom for the country’s economy. According to them, the illicit endeavour has negative impact on the economy and could lead to scarcity of petroleum products.
An economic expert and Chief Executive Officer of Oil Bureau, a Lagos- based oil and gas consulting outfit, Dr. Tunji Adebayo said: ”There is the need for Federal Government to take drastic action towards eradicating the menace of trans-border smuggling of petrol from Nigeria into the Republic of Benin and other neighbouring countries. Failure to do so could create unnecessary scarcity of the product in the future.
”The government could do this by asking the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to establish filling stations in the Republic of Benin and other neighbouring West African countries. With the establishment of the stations in neighbouring countries, the government will directly take the products there and make a lot of money as income into the federation account.”
An oil and gas business analyst, Mr Chinedu Odimegwu, advocated the use of technology to monitor the movement of tankers from depots to filling stations.
He said: “A situation where our major product is being taken to another country through illegal routes is dangerous to our economy and could retard its growth. To my mind, the security agencies at the borders cannot contain this queer business because of the porous nature of our borders.
“The federal government can help the Nigeria Customs and Excise and other security agencies to halt the continued smuggling of petrol to neighbouring countries through the use of electronic or satellite technology to track the movement of tankers from depot or loading points to filling stations.
“By so doing, the destination of petrol tankers would be ascertained and security agencies including Customs authorities would be able to forestall the movement of Nigeria’s petrol to neighbouring countries. This is what Saudi Arabia has been doing by gathering data through electronic and satellite technology on the movement of all petrol tankers as they move from loading points to filling stations.”
A retired Assistant Comptroller General of Immigration and homeland security expert, Mrs Funmilayo Odubela-Aduroja said there is need for the federal government to identify all entry points into the country by erecting walls at the borders.
”The porous nature of Nigerian borders calls for serious concern and all kinds of foreigners are cashing in on that to move into the country to carry out their nefarious activities unchecked. Yet, the Nigerian authorities are not doing enough to checkmate the unpleasant situation at our borders.
”Apart from trans-border petrol smuggling, as we speak, Nigeria’s cash crops such as cocoa and groundnut are being smuggled to neighbouring countries like Benin Republic and Niger. These countries in turn export the crops and make a lot of money from our collective sweat.
“The only measure to stop this is to properly fence our borders like the US did to prevent people from her neighbouring countries such as Mexico from coming into her territory through borders.
“I am also calling for the creation of a Ministry of Homeland Security where all para-military organisations and agencies, excluding the police, are merged and coordinated to provide maximum internal security for the country. This would make the running of the country even cheaper in the face of a battered economy caused by the crashing prices of crude oil all over the world.”
