THEY slip through the borders under the cover of night, or blend in during the day — trucks loaded with sugar, oil, rice, pharmaceuticals and other commodities, bypassing customs checks and tax obligations. These are not simply shady business dealings. They’re the lifeblood of a multi-billion-dollar shadow economy corroding Africa’s development from the inside out.
Across West Africa, porous borders have become conduits for this illicit trade. In Ghana, where the African Chamber of Content Producers (ACCP) is leading an anti-smuggling campaign, the impact is visible and devastating. Legitimate importers are being squeezed out, while investors are backing away, citing unfair competition and weak enforcement.
The Ghana Revenue Authority estimates over GHS10bn ($724 million) is lost annually to smuggling — money that could build roads, fund schools, or equip hospitals.
Ghana’s costly reality
This is not a uniquely Ghanaian issue. Across Africa, smuggling syndicates exploit weak institutions and corrupt systems to build underground economies. Their black markets are filled with unregulated goods — sometimes substandard, sometimes dangerous.
A market woman in Agbobloshie, Ghana, recently described how industrial-use oils are relabelled and sold as edible products, endangering consumers. In Kenya, the Border Management Secretariat revealed in March 2025 that 2,000 metric tons of sugar had been smuggled into the country. Some of that sugar, tested by government chemists, was found to contain mercury and copper.
Since 2018, Kenya’s Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi has warned that millions of Kenyans may have unknowingly consumed toxic sugar repackaged as local brands.
Cartels, corruption and collapsing industries
Let’s be clear: this crisis isn’t driven by desperate traders. It’s orchestrated by criminal cartels with deep pockets and political connections. These networks launder money, evade sanctions, and often finance other illicit trades — from arms to human trafficking. This turns smuggling into a national security threat.
The top commodities trafficked — fuel, sugar, rice, oil, pharmaceuticals — are often moved by well-organised operations that take advantage of regulatory weaknesses and border lapses.
In Nigeria, oil smuggling reportedly costs the state $1.5 billion a month. According to ENACT Africa, some of this oil is trafficked through Cameroon to rebel groups in the Central African Republic. Meanwhile, a Reuters report from 2015 showed that Somali terror group Al-Shabaab earns around $1.9 million annually from sugar smuggling through Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp — and that figure only covers a single route.
Beyond the security risks, the economic cost is staggering. The African Development Bank estimates illicit trade robs the continent of $30bn to $50bn each year. These losses lead to higher unemployment, reduced investor confidence, and shrinking public revenue — all of which widen the gap between development targets and reality.
Local industries are paying the price. Ghana’s palm oil processors are laying off workers as cheaper, smuggled alternatives flood the market. In Nigeria, rice millers reportedly lose $300 million annually to smuggled imports, undermining government efforts toward agricultural self-sufficiency.
Time for coordinated African action
The ripple effects are severe. Governments that can’t collect taxes resort to borrowing. According to the IMF, sub-Saharan Africa’s external debt reached $702bn in 2021 — with lost tax revenues from smuggling playing a key role. Meanwhile, youth unemployment across the continent is nearing 60 percent, according to World Bank figures, fuelling frustration and hopelessness among Africa’s largest demographic.
If this continues unchecked, entire communities will be pushed to the margins of economic life, while trust in governance erodes.
The African Chamber of Content Producers (ACCP), through its anti-smuggling campaign, is spotlighting these issues with advocacy, journalism, and community engagement. But civil society alone cannot solve this.
Governments must strengthen surveillance at land, air, and sea borders. Customs regulations must be enforced, and complicit officials held accountable. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) must move beyond trade facilitation to build joint security protocols, harmonised tariffs, and regional anti-smuggling task forces.
Ordinary consumers, traders, and traditional leaders also have a role to play — from recognising illicit goods to reporting suspicious trade practices.
Africa’s economic future hinges on transparent, rule-based markets. Every bag of smuggled sugar, every jerrycan of illicit oil, every shipment of untaxed rice is not just lost revenue — it is a stolen opportunity from an African entrepreneur, a betrayal of industrial ambitions, and a blow to democracy itself.
The time to act is now
Smuggling is not invisible. It is right before our eyes, gutting our economies. If we don’t stop it with courage, coordination and integrity, we will keep losing — not just money, but lives.
Dwomoh-Doyen Benjamin is Executive Director of the African Chamber of Content Producers (ACCP)
This article first appeared on TRT Afrika
