Nigerian Army intercepts Dangote trucks, others for smuggling prohibited goods to Cameroon

Dangote Group, led by the wealthiest person in Africa, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has been under fire from a variety of quarters for allegedly engaging in economic sabotage and other treacherous actions near the Nigerian border.

Trucks loaded with 600 50kg bags of cement each, were on Friday paraded to journalists at the headquarters of the Nigerian police in Yola, the Adamawa state capital.

Troops of the Nigerian Army have intercepted two Dangote trucks and three others allegedly transporting banned goods to the Republic of Cameroon, SaharaReporters can report.

The trucks, loaded with 600 50kg bags of cement each, were on Friday paraded to journalists at the headquarters of the Nigerian police in Yola, the Adamawa state capital.

The interception followed an executive order banning the transportation of building materials across the country's border through Adamawa routes by the Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri.

While jointly displaying the vehicles, the spokespersons for the governor and the police command, Humwashi Wonosikou and SP Suleiman Nguroje respectively, told journalists that the trucks were intercepted a few kilometres before Jamtari, a border village between Nigeria and Cameroon.

Wonosikou said: "We're here to address a disturbing trend in the state. As if the hardship on the people is not enough; there are some people who would want to test the will of the government and the government is saying such actions are unacceptable.

"We're all living witnesses when the government came up with a policy of banning the movement of building materials across the country's border. We're a border state and we've had issues where items are transported across the border.

"But then the government, for building materials, would not want them transported out of the country. You can see behind me are trucks that were apprehended and brought here. They were intercepted by the military.

"And it is believed that these products are being transported out of the country, because if you look at it, where is the community at the border area in Adamawa State that requires this amount of cement to be used?"

On his part, Nguroje said, "Personnel have been deployed throughout the state to enforce the government order, banning transportation of building materials across the border."

However, officials of the Yola depot of Dangote Cement, who were on the ground, vehemently denied that the products were being taken to Cameroon.

One of them who spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authority argued, "This is a clear violation of our right to do business! It is absolutely wrong for our trucks to be intercepted within the Nigerian territory.

"The goods in these trucks were procured by our customer, who requested them to be conveyed to Jamtari. It is therefore not in our right to demand an explanation as to why he wants them there.”

But in a dramatic twist, one Abiola Oyetunji, identified on the waybill as the contact person, expressed surprise that the truck had left the company's depot in Yola.

According to her, the trucks can leave the depot only after the goods have been sold.

"I've not sold the cement yet; how could the truck have moved out of the depot in Yola? The driver told me he was at the depot up to this time," she added.

How Dangote, Customs smuggle foreign rice through Seme border

It should be noted that Dangote trucks is in the habit of smuggling commodities over borders to neighboring countries.

In August 2019, the Federal Government of Nigeria announced a border closure policy which saw the immediate halting of all trade activities across Nigerian borders with neighbouring countries like Benin and Niger State.

The border closure policy was triggered by Nigerian authorities’ frustration with the smuggling in of rice and illicit exports of locally subsidized petrol to neighboring countries Benin Republic and others.

Although it may seem like the blockade encouraged the consumption of locally grown produce such as rice, it also hurt factories in some countries across West Africa, which rely on Nigeria’s market of 200 million people.

However, our investigations revealed that while the borders remained shut, Dangote trucks resumed export of cement across neighbouring West African countries and upon returning back into the country, men of the Nigerian Customs Service suspected to be under the company’s payroll look the other way while the Trucks smuggle foreign rice and other contraband goods into the country particularly through the Seme border.

Olabode Somefun, a land border clearing agent who spoke to this reporter recounts how his business has been in decline since the border was shut, stating that he is even more frustrated seeing the shenanigans orchestrated by Dangote Cement truck drivers on daily basis across the border.

He said: “My colleagues and I who are badly affected by the border closure sit here every day gnashing, some of us are now out of business, but Dangote trucks loaded with cement drive pass the border freely and on their way back to Nigeria are again loaded with bags of foreign rice, groundnut oil and other goods. The trucks are not checked by officials of the Nigerian customs at the port of entry. We are suspecting that men of the Nigerian Customs are on the payroll of Dangote Group, which can only explain why they are often not checked.”

Meanwhile, other eyewitnesses also narrated that at times the truck drivers stop at some Customs check points to offload a few bags of rice as compensation for the officials who eventually grant them passage.

Meanwhile, in October 2019 when the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali spoke to the media in Abuja, he reiterated his agency’s commitment to President Mohammadu Buhari’s land border shut down directive, saying that it will help Nigeria to have total control over what comes in and goes out of the country.

“All goods, for now, are banned from being exported or imported through our land borders and that is to ensure that we have total control over what comes in,” Hameed said.

Reconciling the Customs chief’s statement with current realities has become a bit confusing giving current findings that Dangote Cement trucks has unfettered access to and from Nigeria’s land borders with the express support of officials of the Nigerian Customs.

Although Buhari’s border closure directive was targeted at encouraging the consumption of locally grown produce such as rice, despite that, the reason why foreign rice keeps flooding the Nigerian market can now be known to the public.

“In the wake of this new reality, a question now being asked across several quarters is if the Presidency is in support of Dangote Group’s smuggling activities through Nigeria land borders particularly the Seme border? If the answer is yes, then we may have a huge case of nepotism in our hands, but if for any reason, the presidency is not ‘aware’, then Dangote Group needs to be sanctioned immediately, said a concerned Nigerian.

Dangote Cement Plc is a Nigerian publicly traded multinational cement manufacturer headquartered in Lagos. It is a subsidiary of Dangote Group, a Nigerian multinational industrial conglomerate, founded by Aliko Dangote.

Aliko Dangote, a Nigerian businessman, is Africa’s richest man.