Original report
Importers and clearing agents at Apapa Port say Customs officers routinely demand bribes ranging from ₦50,000 to ₦200,000 per container before they will release cargo, even when all import documents are valid and duties have been fully paid. Officers use a rotating roster of excuses — "valuation review," "PAAR inspection," "alert" — to justify stopping containers that have already passed every legal checkpoint. Agents who refuse to pay see their containers held for weeks, incurring demurrage charges that often exceed the bribe amount. Some importers have abandoned containers entirely because the cost of demurrage plus the demanded bribe exceeds the value of the goods. The Nigeria Customs Service has an anti-corruption unit, but agents say reports against specific officers disappear without consequence. The Apapa Port corruption costs the Nigerian economy billions of naira in delays, abandoned cargo, and inflated import costs that are passed on to consumers.