Jibiya, where hoodlums
beat Customs black and blue
By MAURICE ARCHIBONG
Thursday,
October 4, 2007
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officials at Magama
PHOTOS: MAURICE ARCHIBONG
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Unknown to many people, the Nigerian town of Jibiya has a
namesake in Ramallah District of the West Bank area of Gaza
in the Middle East. Although either Jibiya could be described
as populated, however, the West Bank settlement stands around
Latitude 32 degrees North and Longitude 35 degrees, 15 minutes
East, whereas the geographical coordinates of our own Jibiya
are Latitude 13 degrees, 5 minutes North and Longitude 7 degrees,
13 minutes East.
Although many tourists have heard of the Nigerian Jibiya,
the unfamiliar could easily mistake her for our border town
nearest Niger Republic. However, that position belongs to
Magama, where various security agencies have their outposts.
On the Nigerien side beyond Magama is Dan Issa, where that
neigbouring country’s security outfits such as "Douane"
(Customs) and Police operate.
On the way to Dan Issa, the traveller would see signs identifying
Farou and Doutchi N’Begouia along the way. Dan Issa
stands roughly eight minutes’ drive down a two-lane,
asphalt – coated road from Magama. From Dan Issa, the
tourist would find commercial vehicles heading to Maradi,
the biggest town in Niger Republic nearest Jibiya. Although
the official border posts all stand at Magama, it would be
difficult to talk of Magama without some mention of Jibiya.
This explains why Magama-Jibiya appears on many signboards
identifying various official organs there.
Welcome to the north central Nigerian frontier settlements
of Magama and Jibiya. Jibiya (sometimes spelt Jibia) stands
barely 40 minutes’ drive, west of Birnin (City of) Katsina,
capital of Katsina State. Jibiya is both the name of a town
as well as that of one of the 34 Local Government Areas that
make up Katsina State, which came into being on Wednesday
September 23, 1987. Hitherto, the present political unit called
Katsina State was part of Kaduna State.
Why did we come to Magama and Jibiya? Many reasons: Magama-Jibiya
is possibly the only border, where hoodlums sacked an outpost
of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and set their offices
ablaze, apart from garrulous invasion of the local barracks.
Prior to this incident, which broke on September 15, 2005,
NCS personnel had intensified anti-smuggling measures and
had dealt numerous smugglers telling blows via seizures, arrests
and what have you. But the economic saboteurs would not take
things lying low; and when they unleashed their wrath, it
made headlines locally and abroad.
Such was the fury of the mob that Officers and Men scampered
for dear life, while the hoodlums went on to raze the local
official base of the NCS and torch all vehicles in sight.
In the course of running helter-skelter to avoid being caught
in the rage of the violent mob, some officers who aimed to
scale fences for quicker access to their barracks but were
not smart enough got entangled in barbed wires and lost blood
through lacerations: Many of such personnel also needed to
get replacement for their torn uniforms. It wasn’t a
pleasant sight but the officers were not the only casualties
of the rage of smugglers, for in the ensuing mayhem, hapless
tourists also lost their vehicles and sustained injuries in
their flight to safety.
Until the arsonists struck, the NCS operated its Magama outstation
near the junction leading to Jibiya Town. In other words,
that outpost, which stood opposite the local NCS barracks,
was really not near to the borderline. Curiously, the local
Control Post of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), which
was ostensibly better positioned, stood at least 1 km from
the NCS base. Not surprisingly, therefore, hoodlums had a
field day, when they laid siege to the custom station because
reinforcement wasn’t immediately at hand. It would appear
that the NCS learnt invaluable lessons from the experience
of its personnel at Magama-Jibiya because their new complex
stands across the road from the operational base of their
NIS counterparts.
Although the local NCS barracks had also been vandalised,
the smashed louvres, doors and roofing sheets had since been
replaced and the blocks repainted, and officers had since
returned to their accommodation. Nonetheless, the barracks
grounds hold telltale signs of the smugglers’ war: These
are charred remains of jeeps and other vehicles set ablaze
by the hoodlums.
Another reason we went to Jibiya is actually a spin-off from
the first: It was to observe what has changed since that black
day in 2005, as well as find out whether the officers were
now better prepared for any eventuality, given information
of staggering seizures being recorded, and the tightening
of loopholes, often exploited by smugglers. After all, similar
situations led to the smugglers’ uprising two years
ago. We were also in these parts to report on a special market,
where traders from Nigeria and overseas converge every Sunday
to do business. That emporium, known as Kasuwan Jibiya, is,
however, not Jibiya’s only claim to fame. Jibiya boasts
a Forest Reserve and a dam, which interestingly was built
20 years ago (1987). Jibiya is also important because it is
part of the 4, 500km Trans-Sahelian Highway billed to link
Senegal, in the extreme west, to Cameroon via Mali, Burkina
Faso, Niger Republic and Nigeria.
Journey to Jibiya
So, what’s the current situation at Magama, and what’s
the working condition for Customs personnel, there? Even after
listening to the Customs Area Controller (CAC) of Kaduna/Katsina
Command, Comptroller Francis Tsado Degge, we needed to go
out there and see things first-hand. Although Magama-Jibiya
is not really far from the Katsina State capital, it would
have been nonetheless tedious travelling there and doing our
job without the cooperation of the NCS Command.
My sojourn in Katsina was, therefore, made less arduous by
Comptroller Degge and many officers of that Command, including
Chief Superintendent (Mrs.) Hussaina Isah, Mr. Abubakar Abdul-Rahman,
PRO of Magama-Jibiya Border station and Assistant Superintendent
Ishiaku Musa, the Command’s Public Relations Officer
(PRO), who personally guided us around Katsina and elsewhere
using his personal vehicle. And who could forget the support
of Chief Superintendent Wale Adeniyi, the charismatic PRO
of the NCS, who was always on hand to help with access and
so on and Mr. Badamasi Abdullahi, Librarian at Katsina State
History and Culture Bureau (KSHCB).
Mrs. Isah, second-in-command to Officer-in-Charge (OC) Magama-Jibiya
Border, recalled the NCS moved into the new block on March
19, 2007 adding that officers working at that station face
no problem getting food and potable water because there is
a canteen and borehole at each of the two stations in Magama.
Accommodation, she added, is also not a problem because officers
that could not or chose not to be quartered at Magama –
Jibia commute with ease from Katsina. Apart from adequate
accommodation, there are enough schools in the Magana and
Jibiya axes for children of those posted to work at the border
area, according to this lady, who had earlier worked at Seme,
Illela, Kamba, and other border posts.
"Travels" however gathered that there used to be
a radio unit at Magama but that equipment was lost to fire
when the old post was razed. Sadly, that facility has not
been replaced. Fortunately, major GSM networks including MTN
and Glo cover Magama – Jibiya. Thus, officers rely on
GSM for communication. But should a national security agency
depend on private telecom operators for communication? What
happens, when such services fail, as they frequently do?
Jibiya Town
Coming from Katsina, after driving for between 20 minutes
and 40 minutes depending on one’s speed, the traveller
would come to a Y-junction. The road to the right leads to
Magama Border, while Jibiya Town stands to the left. A few
minutes’ drive would bring the tourist to a bridge,
where a sign to the right announces one’s arrival in
this settlement. Jibiya Town, which boasts at least two attractive
Mosques and some Churches, is traversed by Kauran Namoda Road,
which leads to Sokoto and Zamfara States Areas.
Although Kauran Namoda Road is a shorter route to these other
States, the avenue cannot be used optimally as motorists avoid
it because of its rough state. Jibiya has a roundabout, from
where four roads diverge. One of these avenues leads to Jibiya-Maje,
one of the other border stations within the precinct of Kaduna/Katsina
Command. The town is electrified, though virtually all feeder
roads in this market town needs asphalt coating. Furthermore,
Jibiya offers a branch of one of the first generation banks
as well as an outpost of the Nigeria Agricultural, Cooperative
and Rural Development (NACRD) Bank with headquarters in Abuja.
Kasuwan Jibiya
One of the reasons Jibiya crops up, every time Magama is discussed
is that Jibiya Town exerts a gravitational pull on many communities
in not only Katsina but also other parts of Nigeria as well
as West Africa as a whole. Jibiya is not just an ancient settlement;
it boasts a sprawling mart, Kasuwan Jibiya (Jibiya Market),
where countless traders flock to do business every Sunday.
In fact, Kasuwan Jibiya is another reason we travelled here,
for 2007 marks the centenary of this emporium. Reliable sources
at the Katsina State History and Culture Bureau state: "Jibia
Market was established about 95 years ago." However,
that information came from a publication titled "Katsina
State Historical Guide IV: Agricultural and Commercial Development,"
issued in 2001.
Furthermore, December 7 this year would mark nine years since
retired General Abdulsalam Abubakar, then head of state, went
to Jibiya to officially rename the mart as Jibiya International
Market. Although Illela Town, a frontier settlement in Sokoto
State near the Nigerien border town of Birnin Koni, also boasts
an international market, Jibiya however occupies a place all
its own. Moreover, Jibiya International Market is so large
that it could actually pass for a town. Such is the sprawling
nature of this emporium that, but for its smooth appearance
and signboard, you could hardly distinguish a satellite Prison
of the Nigerian Prison Service from the surrounding stalls.
Jibiya further boasts a Community Girls Day Secondary School
and General Hospital.
The booklet, "Katsina State Historical Guide IV: Agricultural
and Commercial Development," compiled by Ibrahim D. Nababa
and edited by Bello Abdu Rimi, further recalls that Kasuwan
Jibiya started around some dye pits, where local dyers sold
cloths and kola nut in exchange for cotton and groundnut brought
by traders from Kano. After a while, merchants of sundry wares
gravitated toward the former dye pits, which eventually evolved
into a full-fledge emporium. Livestock, cloths, craftworks,
grains and various agricultural produce are among the major
items sold at Kasuwa Jibiya. At some point, the crowd became
so large that in 1935 the then Katsina Native Authority had
to relocate the market to its present site.
NCS Kaduna/Katsina
The Katsina Command of the NCS was established in 1988, whereas
the present Kaduna/Katsina Command resulted from a merger
of two commands, Kaduna and Katsina, which were hitherto autonomous.
That merger translated into more tedium for personnel of this
command whose precinct grew tremendously, as could be seen
from the large number of border outstations, which include
Baba Mutum, Birnin Kukah, Dan Kama, Jibiya-Maje, Kolgolam,
Mai-Adua and Zango, aside Magama-Jibiya, in this Area.
The headquarters of NCS Kaduna/Katsina stands along Lema Jubril
Avenue in the GRA of Katsina City and Comptroller Degge is
the 11th CAC at Katsina, whose founding customs chief was
Chief Superintendent MT Bello. Comptroller Degge is an alumnus
of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), where he took both his bachelors
and masters degrees in geography. Interestingly, in two years,
on January 1, 2009 to be specific, Degge would clock a decade
on the rank of Comptroller but this is not to say the man
is bitter. If anything, he is particularly happy for the experiences
he has garnered over the years in service of his fatherland.
Degge assumed duty as CAC of Kaduna/Katsina Command on February
7, 2007, following his deployment from NCS Training School,
where he was Commandant for three years. Comptroller Degge
had earlier served as CAC Kwara, CAC Abeokuta and CAC Ogun
II at various times. Over those years, when he was CAC, Kwara
for 12 months and CAC Abeokuta from 1998 to 2003 (five years),
the gentleman had seen action working as head of a command,
which has border posts within its precinct. However, nothing
could have prepared anyone for what took place at Magama-Jibiya
Station in 2005, when hoodlums descended on the NCS outstation
there and beat officers black and blue.
Although Comptroller Degge was Commandant of NCS Training
School, when hoodlums sacked Magama-Jibiya Station two years
ago, he recalled that the then Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua-led
Katsina State Government had swung into action by erecting,
almost overnight, temporary offices as panacea for that Command.
The CAC added that the Abuja-based NCS High Command had also
reacted swiftly by building a befitting permanent complex
for its operations at Magama. Degge also thanked the Comptroller
General Jacob Gyang Buba-led Customs Service for the speed,
which attended the barracks’ rehabilitation. Not only
did the Customs Management erect a larger, more modern office
at Magama-Jibiya, the authorities also provided a high capacity
generator to light up the complex and a borehole for potable
water. Thus, officers working at Magama-Jibiya Station have
very few headaches, according to the CAC.
However, "Travels" investigations revealed that
most officers there are saddled with what many Lagos residents
call "Shaka-bola." This is an antique rifle called
G-3, said to be less reliable than the obsolescent and often
derided "Mark-4." NCS personnel are usually armed
with weapons so old the criminals that laid siege to their
station at Magama, probably nursed no fear of being outgunned
by the officers.
Expectedly, this CAC apparently brightened, when he revealed
that his command has recorded increases in the revenue collected
at Magama-Jibiya Border. However, we gathered that whatever
gain has been witnessed in import duty pares to little compared
to losses suffered from the reduction in the amount of excise
duty that the command used to net because the few industries
within this area have been operating in fits and start owing
to rising overhead and epileptic nature of power supply.
Consequently, collections had dipped over the months. Nonetheless,
in the first eight months of 2007, January to end of August,
Kaduna/Katsina command collected over N 2. 292 billion. Of
this total, close to N2 billion was paid into the Federation
Account, while the remainder (approximately N395. 3 million)
went into other relevant coffers.
Whatever the case, the Kaduna/Katsina Command has made commendable
strides as regards enforcement and seizures. During the eight
months in question, the Comptroller Degge-led command recorded
some 104 seizures, the duty paid value (DPV) of which was
put at over N51.8 million.
The CAC enthused it was possible to abort so many smuggling
attempts because he does not trust anyone. "Smugglers
are very crafty and always devising new strategies with the
hope of beating security personnel. Based on my experience
at various borders, we cannot afford to trust anybody. So,
we do 100 per cent examination at the border posts. The importer
may be honest; the clearing agent may be sincere, but how
about the goods conveyor or the driver. At any point along
the line, rules may be flouted. This is why I don’t
trust anybody," Degge declared.
The CAC again: "Economic saboteurs would take advantage
of any loophole. Due to their antics, innocent commuters sometimes
suffer delay because we insist on checking everybody. What
I always tell my officers is that, much as we have to search
everyone, they should be courteous. Politeness is important;
that way, even the innocent travellers would understand that
we don’t mean any harm, and that what we are doing is
in the interest of our country. We don’t compromise.
We even search pedestrians because smugglers are experts at
concealment."
The CAC revealed there is reinvigorated emphasis on monitoring,
even as his men also carry out surprise or spontaneous checks.
"We have to be alert, to ensure nobody brings arms into
our country through any of our borders. So, my officers are
under strict rules to monitor thoroughly at every step. So,
we are all on our toes here," Degge stressed. These extra
enforcement measures have apparently yielded much dividend,
going by revelations that the command frequently makes huge
seizures of rice, spaghetti, et cetera.
Commenting on the new Customs House at Magama, Comptroller
Degge observed: "The present location is better. It is
far from town and allows us to better monitor activities around
the border areas. The new block is also very modern with enough
offices and thanks to the Customs Management, we have a high
capacity electricity generator to take care of lighting and
other necessities there."
Asked why the complex had no perimeter fence, the CAC’s
explanation was that the service was working toward putting
up a fence around the complex to fortify security.
He, however, pointed out that the fence could not yet be built
until the operational space for Cotecna; the local Service
Provider had been mapped out. In fact, Cotecna is supposed
to install a scanning machine and other facilities at Magana-Jibiya.
Apparently, when that happens, the land area of the NCS at
Magama-Jibiya could well prove too small. A sincere personage,
Comptroller Degge agreed, even as he offered that efforts
were being made by relevant authorities to secure additional
landed property adjacent to the new NCS complex.
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