Inside Nigeria Customs’ Smuggling Web, Leakages and Power Play

A leaked video, a disputed valuation code, staggering waiver figures and a brewing succession fight have turned Nigeria Customs Service into a pressure chamber of suspicion, denial and fiscal alarm.

Atlantic Post

August 7, 2026

3–5 minutes

846 code, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, border security, Nigeria Customs Service, revenue leakages, Smuggling

Nigeria Customs Service is once again under intense national scrutiny after a leaked video and a string of allegations reignited questions over smuggling, revenue leakages and internal power struggles at the heart of one of Nigeria’s most important revenue agencies.

The controversy lands at a sensitive moment for the Service, coming only weeks after President Bola Tinubu approved a six-month extension for Comptroller-General Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, now expected to remain in office until February 2027.

The centre of the latest storm is the controversial “846” vehicle valuation process, which Customs’ own portal describes as a “Seamless application process for vehicles with Non-Standard VIN using 846.”

In plain terms, the system is meant to handle vehicles whose identification numbers cannot be automatically assessed, not to serve as a back door for abuse. Customs’ portal also says it is designed to “Monitor, evaluate, and optimize customs operations efficiently.”

That distinction matters because the allegations now circulating are serious: that the code is being manipulated to clear new vehicles as used ones, short-changing the federal government of duty revenue. The allegation is not new.

Public reporting as far back as 2023 captured complaints that some officers and freight forwarders were using the extended procedure code 846 to undermine revenue collection, with Customs itself acknowledging that the “value approved” was not being fully utilised.

The latest claims also collide with a broader fiscal debate. In July 2026, the House of Representatives Committee on Finance demanded a breakdown of the estimated ₦34 trillion worth of import duty waivers granted in 2025, saying lawmakers needed to know the beneficiaries, legal basis and economic purpose of the concessions.

Rep. James Abiodun Faleke said the chamber was not against waivers, but insisted on transparency, asking: “We want to know the beneficiaries of this ₦34 trillion waiver.”

Against that backdrop, the alleged misuse of 846 has become more than a technical customs matter. It is now being framed as a major revenue leak.

The complaint is that under-valuation, weak supervision and collusion among officers and intermediaries are creating a system where the state loses money while a few actors profit from “short payment” arrangements.

Licensed freight forwarders have long argued that corrupt officers should be prosecuted, not shielded, when they help undermine the Treasury.

The border-security angle is just as troubling. Customs’ Ogun I Area Command recently dismissed claims that smugglers had taken over the Idiroko–Sango Ota route, calling the report a false description of a traffic incident and urging the public to verify information before spreading panic.

That denial shows the Service is keen to reject any suggestion that criminal groups have seized territory.

Yet the same command has also published evidence of sustained pressure along the corridor, including 146 seizures in a recent review period and a Duty Paid Value of ₦4.63 billion.

The confiscations included foreign rice, PMS, tyres, footwear, cannabis and other contraband, underscoring the scale of the trade being fought along the border.

In other words, Customs says the claims of takeover are false, but the seizures themselves show the anti-smuggling war remains intense.

That tension between denial and evidence is exactly why this story has resonated. On one hand, Customs says the allegations of a “surge” in smuggling and manipulation of 846 are false, misleading and a misrepresentation of how the system works.

On the other, its own public materials show the portal exists because non-standard VINs require special handling, while past reporting and current enforcement actions show the system has been vulnerable to abuse.

The succession question adds another layer of intrigue. The extension for Adeniyi was justified publicly as a way to sustain reform, complete administrative processes and preserve continuity in major modernisation programmes, including the National Single Window.

But in a service already dogged by allegations of internal manipulation, any discussion of who rises next inevitably becomes a political and institutional fight as well as a bureaucratic one.

For now, the most damaging consequence is reputational. Customs has to prove, repeatedly and in public, that its anti-smuggling campaign is not selective, that its valuation platforms are not being gamed, and that leadership changes are not being shaped by shadow interests.

With revenue pressure mounting, waivers under scrutiny and border seizures still climbing, the agency cannot afford the appearance of capture. It must show that the system is being cleaned up from within, not merely defended from without.