US embassy cable - 03LAGOS2480

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 002480 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE PASS USTDA, EXIM 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, ECON, EWWT, ASEC, NI 
SUBJECT: THE LAGOS PORT COMPLEX: FAR FROM SECURE 
 
1. (U) Summary: Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and 
Customs officials report marked gaps in security at the 
Lagos port complex.  Access to the port is only 
nominally controlled, and electronic surveillance and 
tracking systems are non-existent.  Goods are 
statutorily subject to Nigeria's 100 percent inspection 
policy, but Customs officials ultimately see only a 
small proportion of total traffic.  The addition of new 
cargo scanning equipment may improve the situation, but 
a sea change in port security is unlikely.  End 
summary. 
 
 
2. (U) The Lagos port complex is the largest and 
busiest of Nigeria's several ports.  It handles 40 
percent of all traffic, and many consider it the 
gateway not only to Nigeria, but also to West Africa. 
It is one of the world's most expensive ports (second 
only to the port of New York) and one of its least 
efficient.  Exporters and importers alike face 
bureaucratic delays and administrative hurdles, wait 
unusually long for goods to clear customs, and contend 
with notoriously corrupt officials. 
 
 
3. (U) The NPA controls the port's physical security. 
Except for the side fronting the river, the entire 
complex is walled and topped with concertina wire. 
Personnel and trucks move through two or three main 
gates, each of which is supposedly subject to strict 
controls.  It appears, however, that traffic enters and 
leaves the port with little scrutiny: in a fifteen- 
minute period during Econoff's presence, not a single 
truck or person passing through one of the gates was 
stopped or questioned by officials.  The NPA recently 
issued photo ID cards to employees and port personnel, 
but demands that they display the cards are infrequent. 
Captain Stephen Koffi, Harbor Master at the Lagos port 
complex, says electronic monitoring and video 
surveillance systems are months (if not years) away. 
He laments the lack of sophisticated technology but 
says resources are limited. 
 
 
4. (U) Customs officials voice the same complaint. 
Funds are scarce, and with limited staff, the Nigeria 
Customs Service finds it impossible to conduct thorough 
physical inspections of all goods transiting the port. 
N. H. Angyu, Customs Area Controller at the Apapa area 
of the Lagos port complex, says exports are subject to 
a cursory inspection at the port gate (a statement that 
seems wholly inaccurate, as trucks are rarely stopped) 
and put through a more thorough inspection at the 
port's export bay.  Even then, it is highly unlikely 
that Customs officials inspect each and every item in 
each and every container.  Customs officials dispense 
with the 100 percent inspection policy for certain well- 
known exporters.  Instead, they conduct random checks, 
a practice that violates Nigerian law but fits with 
international practice.  Angyu hopes the early 2004 
introduction of container scanning equipment will 
improve inspections of imported goods, but the machines 
will not be used (at least not initially) for exports. 
These, unfortunately, will continue to undergo the 
usual physical inspections. 
 
 
5. (U) NPA and Customs officials nonetheless say 
security has improved over the last few months, mostly 
due to more stringent port access controls, but 
shippers and freight forwarders disagree.  One shipping 
company told Econoff that it loses five percent of its 
imports to pilferage.  People walk away with bags of 
rice, flour or cocoa, and NPA and Customs officials do 
nothing to stop them.  In many cases, the company says, 
port and Customs officials are part of the problem. 
The shipping company pays for its own security and is 
installing electronic surveillance systems, but a small 
percentage of its shipments continues to disappear. 
 
 
6. (U) Freight forwarders also recognize gaps in port 
security, and many say Customs officials are incapable 
of effectively tracking or inspecting shipments.  An 
executive at one of Nigeria's leading freight 
forwarders told Econoff that 50 percent of all imports 
are smuggled into the country.  He also claims that 90 
percent of Nigeria's non-oil exports are contraband. 
Hundreds of containers of putative furniture components 
are exported every month, he says, but these are often 
full of raw timber (an export prohibited under Nigerian 
law) bound for East Asia.  The Nigeria Customs Service, 
the executive asserts, is corrupt from the top down, 
and companies find it easy to under-declare shipments 
as long as they bribe appropriate officials. 
 
 
7. (U) Comment: If this is indeed the case, and if 
Customs officials depend on bribes to supplement their 
relatively meager salaries, it appears many officials 
will have an interest in maintaining the status quo. 
As such, new cargo scanning equipment may not be as 
effective as might be hoped (or operate as long as 
expected).  Furthermore, if funds remain scarce, 
security improvements will move forward only 
incrementally if at all.  NPA and Customs officials are 
surprisingly optimistic about meeting the 2004 deadline 
for the implementation of the International Ship and 
Port Security Standards, but unless political will 
increases and significant changes occur, meeting the 
deadline will be difficult, if not impossible.  End 
comment. 
 
 
HINSON-JONES