Nigeria signed the CITES Convention on 4 May 1974, and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has been in charge of enforcing its provisions ever since. NCS did not serve this function well for many years, but this has now changed.

Before 2021, Nigeria featured prominently in reports on wildlife crime as a source, transit, and destination country for wildlife and timber trafficking. Nigeria was also mentioned as the originating or departure country in many wildlife seizure reports issued by national enforcement agencies in Asia (notably China, Singapore, Vietnam, and Lao People’s Democratic Republic) and their counterparts in Europe and Africa.

Nigeria was a high-risk country for wildlife crime even though almost all the species being trafficked were not indigenous to Nigeria. The drivers of wildlife crime included regional instability, population growth and associated pressures, poverty, as well as porous borders, corruption and challenges with enforcement.

NCS was aware of the need to take action to remedy the situation. From 2010 to 2013 NCS officers had participated in the World Customs Organization (WCO) GAPIN Project which focused on the illegal trade in great apes and the enhancement of Customs integrity in the area of CITES enforcement. Since 2014 they had also been taking part in the WCO INAMA Project which followed on from GAPIN and focused on enhancing the methodology and techniques used to enforce wildlife trade regulations in general.

NCS also fully supported the June 2014 Declaration of the Customs Co-operation Council on the Illegal Wildlife Trade which clearly acknowledged the existence of this problem and urged Customs authorities to use the full range of detection and investigative techniques, including risk profiling, intelligence sharing, controlled deliveries, forensic techniques, detector dogs and other non-intrusive equipment, and to apply the full extent of the law to secure an appropriate level of punishment that would act as an effective deterrent.

Saying that NCS was not taking any action to address wildlife trafficking would therefore be wrong. Law enforcement officers, especially Customs officers in charge of fighting illicit trade, were applying control measures as expected, but, although some had received training, most had very little knowledge of the magnitude of the threat and the techniques required to mitigate the risks and were therefore not prepared or properly equipped to take efficient enforcement action. Thus, the NCS appeared to many to be “a toothless dog”, all bark and no bite, because it was not seen to be taking action to tackle wildlife trafficking.

Today, the story is completely different. While prior to 2021 no one had ever been convicted in Nigeria for wildlife trafficking, as of October 2024 13 individuals have been prosecuted, convicted, and punished, while another 50 individuals have been arrested and are currently being prosecuted. Many endangered species (live and dead) have been seized by the NCS, including more than 20 tonnes of pangolin scales.

We have changed the narrative and have become the new sheriff in town. Driving enforcement efforts is the Special Wildlife Office, created in 2021 as a Customs sub-unit dedicated specifically to wildlife activities. Managing and coordinating the Special Wildlife Office’s teams of trained and motivated officers is a WCO-accredited expert, technical and operational advisor on Illegal Wildlife Trade, who leverages the support of the WCO and other international partners, regional networks, NGOs and forensic laboratories across different continents to provide training, one-on-one awareness-raising sessions, and other support as required.

As is often the case, change begins with an individual’s willingness to learn, lead, and work hard. With the support of NCS top management, I, the author of this article, played an important role in developing NCS capacity and championing national awareness to fight illicit wildlife trade. The NCS journey in this domain is therefore very much linked to my personal story which I share below in the hope that it will inspire others.

When I was recruited into Customs, I was trained like every other Customs officer in various techniques to fight crime, but the focus was on collecting and accounting for revenue on trade goods. However, I was given the opportunity to develop other knowledge and skills.

The work done by the WCO to raise awareness and train Customs administrations can have a great impact, and I am a testimony of this. In 2011, I worked as an intelligence operative serving at one of the land borders, and I was selected to be part of the team of officers that represented the NCS at the annual meeting of the WCO Regional Intelligence Laison Office for West and Central Africa. During the meeting, the RILO officers heading each region explained how to upload national seizure cases in the WCO Customs Enforcement Network (CEN) and how to use the CEN data to develop risk indicators and enhance targeting and decision-making.

Shortly after this, in 2012, I attended a workshop organized by the WCO under the framework of the GAPIN Project. I became more aware of the international dimension of wildlife trafficking, the importance of integrity measures, and the need to demonstrate leadership to be able to get things done. I also learned techniques for identifying and targeting wildlife species, and successfully carried out practical exercises with the support of the WCO experts.

I was able to use this new knowledge and know-how at Lagos International Airport where I was in charge of controls. In a few months, my team and I had intercepted many elephant tusks and ivory products in different shapes and sizes. In 2014, we found 326 kg of pangolin scales, a commodity that had never been seized in Nigeria before. The cargo was declared as “fish scales”. Upon examination, and with the help of the WCO Environmental Programme Manager, we were able to identify pangolin scales among that cargo.

With the approval and support of the NCS management, I looked for opportunities to speak at any gathering, to raise the awareness of anyone and everyone – senior and junior officers and non-officers alike – regarding the extent of wildlife crime and the important role they played in combating it. Armed with my then very scanty, poorly arranged PowerPoint presentations, I was ceaselessly passing on the message, loud and clear, that Nigeria Customs officers had to continue to maintain “clean hands in all respects” and never turn a blind eye to wildlife crime. I hoped to inspire them and share my passion, as well as my values. Stemming from a very humble yet disciplined upbringing, I was consistently taught and reminded that “a good name is better than silver or gold”

The journey continued. It was at times a lonely and difficult road. At times, it even seemed to be a dead end. But with doggedness being one of my qualities, I saw obstacles or challenges as opportunities, building bridges wherever necessary, using every available resource that I could leverage to create structures that turned into monuments.

What also kept me going was my involvement in the WCO INAMA Project. Every time I participated in one of the programmes or training activities, I would learn something new, be reinvigorated, and usually go on to put a new action plan in place. For example, in 2021 I participated in the diagnostic mission for Lao People’s Democratic Republic and contributed to drafting the recommendations and work plan to strengthen Lao Customs intelligence functions. I took some of the findings back home and sought the inclusion of illegal wildlife trade (IWT) in the NCS basic training curriculum for new intakes. Thanks to this, since 2021 and the present day about 3,000 newly recruited Customs officers have been trained on wildlife species identification, risk indicators, intelligence gathering, enforcement procedures and prosecution processes. They have joined the 2,000 serving officers who had already been trained, either by attending the Customs intelligence orientation course or by completing refresher courses. The topic was also on the agenda of the NCS retreat for newly promoted comptrollers, and many other officers have requested guidance on an ad-hoc basis and therefore had the opportunity to enhance their knowledge.

The partnerships we developed at the national, regional and international levels were crucial. We worked closely with the Nigeria CITES Management Authority and other law enforcement agencies, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the WCO and the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC[1]) became key partners of the NCS.

Working with prosecutors was also key. They received training and worked closely with Customs expert analysts and investigators on every single IWT case they managed. This close collaboration enabled NCS officers to broaden their knowledge on how to collect, collate and preserve crime scene evidence, as we ensured that any wildlife products and derivatives that were seized were systematically analysed to further support investigations.

Furthermore, we sought to cooperate with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in order to enhance intelligence gathering locally and internationally, and to obtain investigation support. Managing some of these partnerships proved challenging, particularly due to the unhealthy rivalry and unnecessary competition among NGOs. We therefore had to reassess them based on their proven expertise and competence vis-à-vis our needs and priorities. Of all the NGOs we worked with, the Wildlife Justice Commission(WJC) stood out on account of its extensive know-how.

The WJC provides operational and analytical support, with law enforcement mentoring, facilitating more effective enforcement against wildlife trafficking. The partnership has enabled the NCS to develop sustainable investigation capacities and enhance intelligence-gathering techniques, as well as working methods related to evidence collection, surveillance, case file management and other essential skills.

On 8 August 2024, acting on intelligence, we carried out a joint enforcement operation with the support of the Wildlife Justice Commission. We intervened simultaneously at two locations in different regions of Nigeria and seized a total of 9,473 kg of pangolin scales. Four suspects were arrested and they have since been charged in court.

According to a senior analyst, the consistent arrests and prosecutions conducted by NCS have not only resulted in considerable levels of turmoil and disruption among Vietnamese and Nigerian criminal networks but also procured a fundamental change in the dynamics of wildlife crime, with a clear shift in the lens through which the key criminal networks view the trade.

The Government of Nigeria, led by the Federal Department of Forestry and the National Stakeholders Forum for Combating Wildlife and Forest Crime in Nigeria, with technical support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), has drafted the National Strategy to Combat Wildlife and Forest Crime in Nigeria 2022-2026.

The National Strategy has set a five-year goal: by 2026, the aim is for Nigeria to have made demonstrable progress in reducing wildlife crime, while its law enforcement and criminal justice system is to have the requisite capabilities and a fit-for-purpose legal framework to effectively and collaboratively tackle wildlife crime. The National Strategy relies on significant collaboration between State agencies, NGOs, and the international community, including source, transit, and destination countries.

Nigeria Customs Service is committed to implementing the Strategy and to continue enforcing wildlife trade laws. The latter will soon include the National Wildlife Act, which is currently in the course of adoption. Once the Act is in force, with stronger penalties being meted out to perpetrators by the courts, NCS enforcement efforts and the prosecution of illegal wildlife cases will be further strengthened.

More information
forallwildlifematters@gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/abim-isafiade-65378431

[1] The consortium is comprised of INTERPOL, the UNODC, the World Bank, the WCO and the CITES Secretariat.