Dividends of Collaboration: NCS Hands Over Huge Illicit Pharmaceuticals to NAFDAC at Apapa Command

ZAINAB JUNAID

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) under the leadership of Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), Bashir Adewale Adeniyi MFR has continued to experience remarkable dividends of its strategic collaboration with relevant agencies in the industry.

Ranging from remarkable feats of Revenue generation, and massive seizures of prohibited items, to effective trade facilitation, the Agency has since the deployment of its strategic reforms, particularly on collaboration, transformed its operational capabilities.

The latest is the coordinated operations and joint investigations with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, which led to successful seizures of 25 containers laden with counterfeit medications, unregistered pharmaceutical products, and prohibited substances including codeine-based preparations that pose imminent danger to public health.

During the ceremonial handover of the seizures at Apapa Port Command in Lagos recently, the Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi MFR, noted that the feat was a tangible result of the strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in November 2024 by the Service and NAFDAC; and the recent inauguration of the Implementation Committee.

He said the MOU framework enabled Customs and NAFDAC to conduct a coordinated operations and joint investigations, systematically tracing illicit pharmaceutical sources and deploying targeted enforcement strategies against criminal networks.

According to him, “On our continued efforts to dismantle the networks of illicit pharmaceutical trade and protect the health and wellbeing of Nigerian citizens from the devastating effects of unregistered and prohibited drugs on our society.

“Inter-agency collaboration and intelligence sharing have been central to our enforcement philosophy, and under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, this enhanced cooperation has delivered measurable results in protecting public health and combating illicit trade.

One of the containers seized as a result of the coordinated operations and joint investigations at Apapa Port Command

“As a Service, we remain committed to making our seaports, airports, and land borders impenetrable barriers against smuggling operations through our unrelenting nationwide anti-contraband initiatives.

“Our intelligence-led enforcement strategy, enhanced by real-time collaboration with regulatory agencies, has fundamentally transformed our operational capabilities”.

The CGC gave a detail breakdown of the seizures to include: 21 forty-foot containers and 4 twenty-foot containers which contained predominantly unregistered pharmaceutical products including sexual enhancement drugs such as REDSUN and HYEGRA sildenafil citrate products, codeine-containing cough syrups including CSC brands, antibiotic injections like oxytetracycline and artesunate, pain relief medications containing diclofenac sodium and paracetamol, skin lightening creams marketed as GBOGBONISE and SKIN CHEMIST, hip and breast enlargement products, and various tablets bearing fake NAFDAC registration numbers.

“The seizures also included expired food products such as margarine and chocolate, veterinary medications including albendazole bolus tablets, antimalarial drugs like artepharm-artequick, and consumer goods such as crusader soap, reflecting a sophisticated and diversified contraband portfolio that poses significant threats to public health, consumer safety, and regulatory integrity,” he highlighted.

He noted that the seizures had an aggregate Duty Paid Value of Nine Billion, Two Hundred and Thirty-Five Million, Four Hundred and Two Thousand, Nine Hundred.

The Customs Boss also streessed that the operational synergy developed with NAFDAC reflects strategic collaboration at its finest, with the Director-General providing critical intelligence even at midnight about suspicious importations that proves decisive to the Service anti-smuggling operations.

“This MOU-facilitated coordination enables swift responses to emerging threats, and I commend the Director-General and her dedicated team whose technical expertise, combined with our enforcement capabilities, has created a formidable barrier against criminal networks seeking to compromise our borders.

“The Nigeria Customs Service, in partnership with NAFDAC and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, remains uncompromisingly committed to the battle against merchants of death who pursue illicit profits from businesses that destroy lives and communities.

“Under the coordination of the Office of the National Security Adviser, our joint operations have resulted in the seizure of over 200 containers followed by coordinated destruction exercises, with unregistered pharmaceutical products comprising 63.7% of seizure values, highlighting the scale of threats that could have inflicted devastating damage on human lives and our social ecosystem if permitted to infiltrate our markets,” he emphasised.

Adeniyi further read Riot Act to all stakeholders within the international trade environment that the Service, in strategic partnership with sister government agencies, will continue to maintain an uncompromising stance on regulatory compliance.

He also commended operatives of Apapa Port Command under the stewardship of Customs Area Controller Babatunde Olomu for bringing their expertise to bear in achieving the feat.

His words, “We shall deploy our full statutory powers of seizure, arrest, investigation, and prosecution of suspects without hesitation or compromise.

“Where it is discovered that haulage operators, bonded terminal owners, or any other trade facilitators are complicit in these illegal activities, such persons or companies will face the full weight of the law. Our intelligence network and technological capabilities have been significantly enhanced to detect and intercept prohibited items regardless of concealment methods or documentation subterfuge”.

“1 extend special commendation to our operatives at the Apapa Port Command who, through their vigilance, professionalism, and dedication to duty, successfully executed these complex interdictions, reflecting the core values of our Service and our collective commitment to protecting Nigeria’s borders and citizens”.