Аннотация
Smuggling remains one of the most persistent threats to Nigeria's economic stability, border integrity, and national security, with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and collaborating agencies employing strategies including intelligence gathering through informants, checkpoints and inspection, and interagency collaboration to combat the phenomenon. This study examines the effectiveness of these strategies and the challenges constraining their implementation, drawing on qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with customs officers, security personnel, and border community stakeholders, alongside documentary evidence from official reports and scholarly publications. Theoretically, the study integrates Crime Pattern Theory, which explains the spatial dynamics of smuggling across activity nodes, pathways, and edges, and Biased Conformity Theory, which illuminates the cognitive and social mechanisms through which officials and communities rationalise complicity in illicit trade. Findings reveal a dual picture: while the NCS has recorded significant seizures, enhanced revenue collection, and formalised interagency cooperation, structural challenges including border porosity, resource constraints, systemic corruption, technological gaps, and community economic dependence continue to undermine enforcement effectiveness. The study concludes that addressing smuggling requires a holistic approach encompassing massive investment in surveillance technology, comprehensive institutional reform to combat corruption, full implementation of the Integrated Cargo Tracking System, strengthened cross-border cooperation, and an integrated border community development programme.