Last Tuesday, the nation woke up to hear the news of the large illegal arms shipment intercepted by operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) at the Apapa Port in Lagos. The shipment includes 13 containers laden with grenades, rocket launchers, scores of mortars, automatic rifles, rounds of ammunition, cartridges, and sophisticated weapons.

Sources said that the last port where the vessel berthed before heading to Nigeria was Nhava Sheva, otherwise known as Jawaharial Nehru Port, considered the busiest port in India. Nevertheless, some reports have it that the shipment might not have originated from India. They point at Iran as possible country of origin. That is not the issue! The issue is that the containers were discharged from the vessel in Apapa Port.

The containers were reported to have been discharged from the vessel – MV CMA-CGM Everest – which had berthed at the Apapa Port on July 10, 2010, and sailed out of the same port on July 15, this year. The ship’s manifest had indicated that the contents of the containers were 754 packages of glass wool and stones.

The 13 containers had been moved into the examination bay of AP Moller Apapa Terminals Limited, the concessionaire of the Apapa Container Terminal (ACT) on October 22, 2010. Desperate attempts by the consignee in collaboration with a customs licensed agent to transfer the prohibited items to a bonded warehouse outside the port were thwarted by operatives of the customs in partnership with other security agents.

The Customs Comptroller-General, Alhaji Inde Dikko Abdullahi, in a statement signed by Customs Public Relations Officer, Adewale Adeniyi, said the containers were under security surveillance for sometime, and were still within customs control.

According to the customs high command, “initial investigation has shown that customs system has blocked attempts by the importers to clear the containers due to observed irregularities in the import documents. Our system is configured to block suspicious importations of this nature. For instance, this particular importation had no Form “M” and Risk Assessment Report (RAR). The importer and exporter had no address on the system, and we have reasons to believe that the importer’s name given in the import documents is fictitious”.

The customs boss enjoined all customs field operatives to remain vigilant as more criminally-minded importers would want to make similar attempts to test their resolve by bringing in illegal arms into the country. He also tasked Nigerians to volunteer useful information to the service to enable them nip such efforts in the bud, stressing that the security of the nation is a collective responsibility of all security agencies and patriotic and well-meaning Nigerians.  

The South West Zonal Coordinator of National Task Force to Combat the Importation of Illegal Goods, Contraband and Small Arms, Dr Ayo Omotoso, also confirmed the arrest of the licensed customs agent who undertook the clearing of the consignment and discharge of the goods from the vessel. The agent, who is now helping security operatives to determine the actual destination of the containers, is presently being shielded from the public for security reasons.

Investigators found that the importer had changed the manifest of the shipment to imply that the goods were meant for The Gambia, which intelligence experts see as a cover up, as there are strong indications that the containers were actually meant for Nigeria.   

Already, six out of the 13 containers inspected as at last Wednesday, showed that artillery rockets in the 107mm range and similar to those often used by the Taliban in Afganistan, filled the shipment intercepted by security agents at the nation’s busiest seaport.

Speaking after inspecting the seizures in Lagos last Wednesday, National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Lt-Gen Andrew Owoye Azazi (rtd), said security forces in the country would not jump into any conclusions about where the illegal arms shipment was coming from or heading to.

According to him, “at this time, the only thing we can say about the bomb discovered by security agents is, we have not reached any conclusion where the shipment was going to or coming from. We have discovered the bombs and at the end of the day, we will do all that is possible to make sure everybody is protected. We are doing a lot of investigations, and at the end of the day, Nigerians would know what it is all about. So, let us not jump into conclusion.”

Fine comments, well made. But methinks that beyond the shocking discovery, the call by the customs for the public’s surveillance and cooperation as well as assurances of the security and safety of Nigerians, the new development calls for concern given the events of the last couple of months. The customs and other security agencies charged with the responsibility of securing our ports, including the State Security Service (SSS), need not beat their chests now. It goes beyond the issue of irregularities in import documents.

The fact that the vessel conveying the 13 containers berthed on the shores of Nigeria on July 10, quietly discharged its contents and safely sailed off Apapa Port on July 15, this year, speaks volumes of the porous nature of our ports and the crass incompetence and ineffectiveness of our security networks. If they were alert and on top of the situation, why did the security agents not impound the vessel that brought in the illegal arms?

In the past, illegal arms had scaled through our porous borders. Some were tracked in Onitsha. Others were traced to Aba, and elsewhere. The large quantity of arms circulating in the Niger Delta also passed through our ports. Of course, very wealthy merchants of death imported them into the country. They have always passed through the eyes of the needle without any resistance from our security operatives.

If it took about four months for a joint security team to intercept illegal arms imported into the country, then there is something wrong with this nation. The question is: why did it take this long for security agents to uncover the illegal arms import? It is indeed, doubtful that the various ports in Nigeria have not been actual conduits for the supply of illegal arms to the litany of armed gangs and criminal elements, including politicians and their foot soldiers.

The new dimension demonstrated by the recent bomb blasts in some parts of Nigeria is evidence that the build-up has been protracted. If for nothing, the October 1, 2010 twin bombing in Abuja, and some earlier bombing incidents in Warri, Delta State and Port Harcourt, Rivers State, are still very fresh in our memory. The plot to detonate these bombs did not start the same day the bombs exploded. The materials used for the bombs were carefully imported through the ports, into the country by the planners and sponsors of the criminal acts. Yet, security operatives did not detect them.

The sustained attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta between late 2005 and 2009, the scary campaigns by members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) on government institutions in the region, are tacit reminders of the long years it has taken our security operatives to come to terms with the enormity of the problem of illegal arms proliferation in the nation’s socio-political and economic fabrics. 

Added to the above is the cankerworm of the cult-related violence, the kidnapping spree through the Niger Delta, and later, such states as Abia, Imo, Anambra, Enugu, Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, among others, all for ransom, point to a protracted militarization of the nation by some disgruntled elements bent on destabilizing Nigeria. It has even taken political colouration, of recent. Indeed, the sophistication with which armed robbers operate in parts of the country, reveal that the business of illegal arms importation did not start today.

I think that the discovery in Lagos is only a reminder of the raging spectacle that had been the norm for years. In fact, the issue of illegal arms importation began years back during the military era.

That the nation’s electioneering process is marred by violence,  killings, political assassinations, and open display of dangerous weapons by thugs and miscreants, is only a painting of the level of deterioration in our social system. The degree of violence during elections has been on the rise since the military left Nigeria’s political landscape in 1999.

Of course, some concerned Nigerians have repeatedly warned government that self-seeking and disgruntled individuals were stockpiling arms in some parts of the country. In fact, well-meaning Niger Delta people have been making this call for years. But, these warnings had fallen on deaf ears for about two decades.

Now that the 13 containers have been confiscated, and the customs licensed agent arrested, it is possible that, at least, one of the importers of these illegal arms would be tracked, arrested and prosecuted. Nigerians are waiting for the outcome of the security agencies’ investigations into the illegal arms importation.  They want to know those who have resorted to militarizing the nation, and arming devilish people to kill others, with illegal arms.

The President Jonathan administration must make sure that those involved in this criminal business are brought to book. This is one way to restore confidence in not only the polity but also the economy, as potential investors would be looking at how the government handles issues of this nature, which exposes the security and safety of law-abiding citizens to great danger.

Honest politicians would also be waiting to see how the government braces up to the challenge, especially as the 2011 general elections gather momentum. This discovery is a tacit test of Jonathan’s political will to address the problem of insecurity in the land. Nigerians are waiting.    

Nelson Chukwudi