UNDERCOVER: How corrupt Customs, SON officials clear counterfeit goods into Nigeria

…Customs Agent Pays $10,000 Per Container, N1.9m In Bribes To Secure Clearance

…Despite B’Odogwu’s Transparency Promise, Officials Turn Port Examination Into Cash Ritual

…Scanners, Technology Being Deployed To Curb Extortion—Customs

…We Will Probe Alleged Compromise Of Officials At Lagos Ports—SON

An influential Customs licensed agent (name withheld to protect him) sat beside his driver as the car headed towards Tin Can Island Port in Apapa, Lagos around 12 pm on a Tuesday in June,2026. THE WHISTLER reporter was seated at the back of the car, having been introduced to the agent as a PhD student writing a thesis on importation and distribution channels in Nigeria.

He said he had some cargoes to clear at one of Tin Can Island port’s terminals, revealing that the ship had arrived four days earlier, and he was going to clear the goods for his client.

But while on the road, he was busy on the phone with an obviously friendly senior Customs officer who usually facilitates clearance of his cargoes. This time he had four containers loaded with household goods. But he revealed they contained counterfeits of some expensive foreign branded household items manufactured in China.

For a while they argued about the duty to be paid on the containers. He negotiated the official duty on each container from $52,000 to $22,000. It was also agreed he would pay the officer and his boys $10,000 on each container. When he arrived at the port, he first had to go through the transfers at the GT Bank office in Apapa, not far from the Customs office.

Within hours, his papers were ready, showing that all the necessary vetting had been done, with only the physical examination of the goods remaining.

With the papers at hand, THE WHISTLER followed the agent as he moved from office to office at the Nigeria Customs Service Tin-Can Island Port Command. First, he went to the Compliance unit where he negotiated with the desk officer (name withheld) over charges that were not official.

Unsatisfied, he excused himself to make a call outside the office. Then, he called a senior officer based at the Customs headquarters in Abuja who used to be his point man at Tin-Can Island Port before his redeployment, to intervene.He said the desk officer was asking for N2m but he pleaded to pay N1.2m. The officer told him to pay the N1.2m, promising to take care of the matter. The agent went back and did a transfer on his phone. 

READ THE FULL STORY IN THE WHISTLER