Customs, NMDPRA Boost Anti-Smuggling Fight

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) have significantly ramped up their collaborative efforts to combat the persistent problem of petroleum product diversion and smuggling. This intensified crackdown is aimed squarely at strengthening Nigeria’s domestic energy security, ensuring that fuel intended for local consumption does not illegally find its way to neighboring countries. The renewed commitment was publicly confirmed on Sunday in a statement released by the NCS spokesperson, Abdullahi Maiwada.

The reinforced partnership follows a crucial meeting between the Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), Adewale Adeniyi, and the NMDPRA’s Executive Director of Distribution Systems, Storage, and Retailing Infrastructure, Ogbugo Ukoha. During the high-level engagement, CGC Adeniyi reiterated the Customs Service’s unwavering dedication to deepening interagency cooperation. He specifically highlighted the critical need to prevent the cross-border siphoning of subsidized or locally priced petroleum products, a practice that historically destabilizes the domestic market and poses a significant threat to national economic interests.

Adeniyi pointed to Operation Whirlwind as a shining example of the fruits of this interagency synergy, describing it as a successful model built on intelligence sharing, joint enforcement activities, and meticulously coordinated field operations. The CGC stressed that the Customs Service remains fully aligned with the ongoing reforms in the petroleum sector. To support these changes, he committed to providing continuous technical input, sharing operational feedback from the border areas, and lending Customs’ expertise in border management. This support is particularly crucial for the implementation of new export point guidelines currently being formulated by the NMDPRA, designed to regulate the formal export of Nigerian refined products.

Commending the NMDPRA for its progressive approach in aligning legacy procedures with the principles of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), Adeniyi emphasized the necessity of clear and efficient processes for designating export points. This requirement is paramount as Nigeria transitions from being a net importer of petroleum products to an emerging exporter, a major economic shift requiring robust regulatory frameworks. “We welcome every initiative that strengthens energy security and ensures that the gains recorded in reducing cross-border diversion are sustained,” Adeniyi stated, underscoring the shared goal to “protect national interest, support legitimate trade, and maintain a transparent system stakeholders can trust.”

Responding to the Customs Chief, NMDPRA’s Ukoha acknowledged the relationship between the two agencies as both long-standing and highly productive, identifying Operation Whirlwind as the pinnacle of their joint achievements. He elaborated that the coordinated efforts—which involve the joint deployment of personnel, sharing of crucial intelligence, and synchronized monitoring of border corridors—have already yielded a notable decline in the illicit cross-border movement of petroleum products.

Ukoha explained that the purpose of the recent meeting was to brief the Customs leadership on newly developed guidelines for formally designating export points, a necessity driven by Nigeria’s growing refining capacity. He revealed that the NMDPRA is engaged in extensive consultations with other key institutions, including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, and the Nigerian Navy, to ensure the new guidelines are practical and reflect the realities of operational execution before their official rollout. He recalled successful joint field operations, such as the launch of Operation Whirlwind in Yola, which vividly demonstrated the combined commitment of the NMDPRA and NCS to safeguarding the domestic supply chain.

While acknowledging that aggressive enforcement actions have been effective in curbing the illegal movement of fuel, Ukoha added a significant economic dimension: the removal of the petroleum subsidy has fundamentally reduced the financial incentive that previously fueled high-volume cross-border smuggling. Despite this reduction in incentive, he assured that the NMDPRA would maintain its close working relationship with the Nigeria Customs Service to solidify the progress made, properly regulate all legitimate petroleum exports, and proactively protect the country from any enduring energy security risks. This reinforced partnership is timely, coming amid persistent, unwholesome practices by certain rogue operators whose actions threaten to divert fuel supplies, potentially triggering domestic scarcity and price inflation.