Cameroon Customs Steps Up Anti-Smuggling Campaign in Far North, Hub for Informal Imports

Cameroon’s customs administration has extended its national awareness campaign against the smuggling of beverages and frozen products to the Far North Region, which accounted for 49.4% of the country’s informal imports in 2024.

The campaign team was presented to regional authorities in Maroua on Monday, September 14. It will engage traders, administrative officials and other participants in the commercial chain on measures to curb fraud and contraband.

According to the Directorate General of Customs, the campaign is intended to protect consumers from unsafe or illicitly traded products, protect businesses operating legally and increase customs revenue.

The delegation was received at the Governor’s Office by Secretary General Evariste Zoa Atangana. After reviewing the campaign’s objectives and members, he assured the team of the support of administrative authorities during its activities across the region. The Inspector General in the Governor’s Office is expected to chair the main awareness session.

Far North dominates informal import flows

The campaign is moving into a region that accounted for the largest share of Cameroon’s informal imports in 2024. Data from the National Institute of Statistics, INS, show that the Far North represented 49.4% of informal imports recorded that year, while the North Region accounted for another 20.8%.

Together, the two regions represented 70.2% of informal imports. Nigeria is one of the main sources of these flows across Cameroon’s northern borders. Fuels and lubricants were the largest category of informal imports in 2024, accounting for 22.1% of the total, while live animals represented 14.6%.

Cameroon recorded a CFAF 50.7 billion deficit from informal cross-border trade in 2024. The deficit widened from CFAF 44.6 billion in 2023 but remained below the CFAF 71.8 billion recorded in 2022.

Informal trade with Nigeria alone generated a CFAF 111.73 billion deficit in 2024. INS linked the imbalance to the length and porosity of the border, the size of the Nigerian economy, the depreciation of the naira and the price competitiveness of Nigerian products.

INS data also show fuel, footwear, water and construction materials among the products entering Cameroon through informal trade with Nigeria.

The Maroua leg of the customs campaign is part of a broader national effort launched in late August to curb undeclared trade in beverages, frozen products and other sensitive goods.

Mercy Fosoh