Brands/Products
Customs Loses 70 Officers To Smugglers
No fewer than 70 personnel of the Nigeria Customs Service were lost within seven months while on duty.
Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a recent interview.
He also said the Service has opened collaboration with their counterparts in the Republic of Benin to facilitate trade and resolve bottlenecks affecting transhipment of goods into Cotonou.
“Customs is here to see and find solutions to the challenges hindering the smooth operations of Nigerian business operators who engage in inter-border trade and transhipment of goods from Nigeria to Republic of Benin.
“Nigeria Customs had lost 70 Customs officers between January 2016 till date while performing their duties to stop the activities of smuggling of some products such as rice, poultry products, rice and so on.
“We have made it real to visit Benin Customs and discuss on the rudiments hindering our operations.
“I believe our dialogue will bring out solutions because both countries are interdependent and this why there should be symbolic mutual relationship between them,” said Ali.
He further noted that there was the need for a level playing ground for the Nigeria Customs Service and the Beninoire Customs due to the nature of their operations as well as the law governing the ECOWAS Trade Liberation Scheme.
Ali told NAN that customs was having serious challenges with Nigerian border operators and importers because they still engaged in prohibited goods in spite of (Customs and Excise Management Act) CEMA law and ETLS, which governed both the Customs and stakeholders operations.
“When operators know that there are some certain goods that are prohibited, they still try to bring them into the country,” Ali added.
He said compliant was key to the Nigeria Customs Service, adding that it was Customs duty in making sure stakeholders operate in a conducive environment for smooth operations to enable customs to get more revenue due for government.
NAN reports that the law relating to Customs agents is contained in the CEMA Cap 45, Law of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and the Customs and Excise Agents (Licensing) Regulations 1968 (Legal Notice 95/1968 as amended).
In his response, the Director-General, Republic of Benin Customs, Claver Tossou, said there was the need for the country to solidify the relationship between Benin and Nigeria to facilitate legitimate trade both countries.
Tossou said the coming of NCS was a right step in good direction, adding that the visit would enable them iron out the challenges and find lasting solutions to facilitate trade and protection of security among the operators.
He said that there was the need to protect the customs laws, symbol and the principles and to establish long lasting cooperation between both countries.
At the interactive session on August 3, the President of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, Alhaji Olayiwola Shittu, said his member faced a lot of challenges while operating between Seme and Idiroko area of Lagos State.
Shittu said ANLCA as Customs Brokers operate at land borders, adding that the association was one of the major players operating between Nigeria and Benin.
He said Nigerian importers incurred on plate numbered vehicles 60,000 CFA, while Benin Republic plate-numbered vehicle importer paid 20,000 CFA per extra tonnage respectively.
Shittu urged the Chef Brigade at Krake Border to delegate his deputy in the command when he is not around for trade facilitation.
He requested that Customs should seal trucks coming to Nigeria and should be handed over to Nigeria Customs to open at the border for proper documentation rather than being opened by the Benin Customs to avoid collection of extra charges of 50,000 CFA, which added to cost of business.
Shittu said: “Customs should assist in mentioning the obligatory payment of between 30,000 to 50,000CFA for NAFDAC related goods which was questionable.
“Agents are not aware that such trucks will not be allowed into the country.
“Customs should assist in checking the cost of transiting ETLS goods from Ghana to Lagos so that Nigeria could provide more enhancement of trade facilitation and competition in West Africa sub region.”
Shittu urged Ali to look into the multiple checkpoints along Seme border to Mile 2 in Lagos State, saying that there is an estimate of 30 checkpoints mounted by Customs and other security agencies.
The Deputy President of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Chief Alaba Lawson, said there was the need to facilitate trade, adding that Customs should enable the operators to know the legitimate trade they would be doing to reduce cost of doing business.
Lawson said there was the need for both countries to firm their relationship, adding that trade should be facilitated.
He said: “When we are entering Benin at the Nigerian border, we spent 30 minutes and on getting to Republic of Benin’s border we spent four hours.
“We are still encountering stress while the ECOWAS ETLS has explained the procedures of operation among regional countries.”
Lawan, however, urged NCS to strengthen the collaboration between both countries.
The President of the Rice Dealers Association, Republic of Benin, Hajia Karamotu Ibikunle, urged the NCS to make it possible for her association to bring rice to Nigeria through the border station.
Ibikunle told the Comptroller-General of Customs to enlighten her association on how to get rice to Nigeria to assist Customs in generating revenue for government.
In his response, Ali said that Customs could only instruct it’s officers, adding that he had been engaging other security agencies to reduce the checkpoints to the barest minimum.
Ali said the Federal Government was doing something about high exchange rate, adding that the floating in exchange rate had resulted to high foreign exchange.
He said: “We have a ban on importation of rice through the land borders because rice still comes through the seaport.
“It is part of our duties to protect the lives of our people and it was discovered that most of the rice coming through border had been tested by NAFDAC and it was discovered majority of the rice have expired and operators re-bagged them to sell to innocent citizens
“As a result of this, that is why we have some youths of 20s and 30s having cancer due to the foods that we eat.”
Ali said the present management of Customs was working towards providing conducive atmosphere for customs officers working along Idiroko area.
Ali said Customs officers at Idiroko were operating in one room during the day, use the same room as office and converted the same room to a residence in the evening.
He said trade was low as a result of exchange rates, which had affected revenue, adding that it was the Customs management’s responsibility to provide conducive environment for officers to carry out their legitimate functions.
NAN.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
An institutional investor, First Ally Capital, has strengthened a leading Nigerian financial technology company, Mathesis Analytics, to scale its proprietary credit decisioning infrastructure.
It made this possible by injecting fresh capital into the firm, which specialises in AI-powered credit decisioning infrastructure, an action that will directly support the growth and scaling of Mathesis’ core mission of providing the intelligence and infrastructure needed to bridge the credit gap for millions of unscored or underscored individuals across Nigeria.
With this investment, Mathesis will enable financial institutions to confidently assess and extend credit to borrowers who lack a formal credit history by leveraging an expanded pool of alternative behavioural and transactional data.
To date, Mathesis’ systems have supported more than 8 million loans for over 2 million unique borrowers in Nigeria, and the company is actively deploying its infrastructure to establish a growing pan-African footprint.
With the investment from First Ally Capital, Mathesis is well positioned to transform how the credit ecosystem operates, driving financial inclusion in partnership with lenders across the continent.
A significant barrier to credit access in Nigeria, which prides itself on being Africa’s largest economy, is data fragmentation. Borrowers frequently build positive financial behaviours across multiple digital platforms by repaying microfinance loans, saving through fintech wallets, or servicing Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) facilities.
However, under traditional credit infrastructure, these achievements remain invisible to new lenders.
Mathesis addresses this challenge through the concept of Personal Equity—the quantified expression of an individual’s financial behaviour aggregated across every institution with which they have transacted.
By translating these disparate signals into a precise, portable measure of creditworthiness, Mathesis creates a comprehensive credit identity that reflects the full breadth of a person’s financial life.
“True financial inclusion cannot be achieved in a vacuum; it requires structural collaboration in which lenders and fintech companies work as partners within the ecosystem.
“This investment from First Ally Capital validates our approach to reshaping credit infrastructure. By quantifying Personal Equity, we empower lenders to safely look beyond the constraints of formal credit histories and recognise a borrower’s true creditworthiness. This capital enables us to accelerate our pan-African expansion while maintaining the robust, institutional-grade infrastructure our partners rely on,” the chief executive of Mathesis Analytics, Winston Osuchukwu, stated.
On his part, the chief executive of First Ally Capital, Mr Ebenezer Olufowose, said, “At First Ally Capital, we pride ourselves on being a one-stop destination for financial solutions, offering a diverse portfolio of services ranging from investment banking and asset management to trusteeship, inclusive banking, and real estate.
“Our investment in Mathesis Analytics reflects our strong belief in the company’s vision and our commitment to supporting forward-thinking enterprises that deliver excellence.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The chief executive of Canal+ Africa, Mr David Mignot, has disclosed that MultiChoice is now fully integrated into the media group.
Mr Mignot disclosed this via a statement issued on Thursday, noting that this development marks a new phase in the evolution of one of Africa’s leading pay television operators.
He noted that the integration positions MultiChoice within a global media organisation with an extensive international footprint.
“MultiChoice is now a full subsidiary of a truly international media group operating in 70 countries. The group was founded in France, is listed in London and Johannesburg, and has a strong African presence with operations in more than 45 countries,” Mr Mignot said.
The statement underscores the scale of the combined business, highlighting Canal+’s global reach alongside its significant investments across Africa.
The completion of the transaction is expected to strengthen MultiChoice’s position in the African media and entertainment market by giving it access to the broader resources, expertise and international capabilities of the Canal+ Group, while reinforcing the group’s commitment to the continent.
MultiChoice operates across sub-Saharan Africa through platforms including DStv and GOtv, serving millions of subscribers with entertainment, sports and news content.
By Adedapo Adesanya
FoodCourt, a Nigerian cloud kitchen startup backed by Y Combinator, has suspended operations after months of unpaid salaries and mounting debts to vendors triggered a staff strike and forced the company to halt customer orders, according to a report by TechCabal.
The publication reported that customers first noticed on March 4 that they could no longer place orders through the FoodCourt app after the company disabled ordering as kitchen workers, delivery personnel and branch staff embarked on strike over unpaid wages. The company also owed outstanding payments to vendors.
By April 19, FoodCourt had temporarily shut its last operating branch after suspending activities across its Lagos and Abuja locations while seeking fresh funding and restructuring the business, according to the report.
The company’s chief executive, Mr Henry Nneji, said the decision to pause operations was not caused by a single issue but by a combination of operational, organisational and working-capital challenges.
“It’s important to clarify that the decision to pause operations wasn’t driven by one single issue. We reached a point where it became clear that continuing to patch those issues while operating wasn’t the right long-term decision,” he said.
“The objective is to build a stronger business than the one that existed before the suspension. We fully intend to bring FoodCourt back,” he added in an emailed response.
The company acknowledged outstanding obligations to employees, vendors, riders and service providers, but declined to disclose the number of affected workers or the total amount owed. It said efforts were underway to resolve the liabilities as part of its restructuring process.
It was also reported that the startup’s financial difficulties worsened after expansion into additional locations increased operating costs, while its cloud kitchen model came under pressure from rising labour, logistics, food and marketing expenses.
Despite the shutdown, Mr Nneji said FoodCourt intends to relaunch after completing its restructuring, adding that the company believes demand for its products remains strong.
Founded in 2021 by Henry Nneji and Paul Adokiye Iruene, FoodCourt operates cloud kitchens under multiple virtual restaurant brands through its consumer app. According to TechCabal, the startup had previously disclosed raising $1.7 million, delivering more than one million meals and reaching $4.3 million in annual recurring revenue by the end of 2024.
