Video of Nigerian customs officer justifying feeding bandits is outdated

Recent concerns about Nigeria's security situation have been reignited due to an increase in violent attacks by armed groups, coupled with comments from former US President Donald Trump regarding what he describes as the targeting of Christians by "radical Islamists" a claim that the Nigerian government strongly denies. In this climate, social media posts widely circulated as "breaking news" claimed that Nigerian customs officers had supplied food to armed groups in the countrys northeast, specifically in the Sambisa Forest, with the aim of "sustaining them." However, this claim is false, as the video being shared is from 2021.

The footage, which has recently resurfaced, shows a customs officer discussing an incident when a customs patrol team gave several bags of rice to bandits in exchange for their safety. The post, which gained significant traction on November 20, 2025, claims, "Breaking news: Nigerian Customs Service delivers bags of rice to terrorists in Sambisa Forest to sustain them in these difficult times. How on earth did Nigeria get to this point?" This post has been shared nearly 7,000 times.

Sambisa Forest is located in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria. The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is primarily a border security agency that oversees international trade, enforces anti-smuggling laws, and collects tariffs. The viral post includes a clip from a news broadcast aired by the Nigerian media outlet TVC News. In the video, a customs officer in uniform explains to journalists, "I sacrifice my life to enter the bush where the bandits are. If I tell you the last time we had an encounter with them, to the extent that they were a little bit friendly with us..." The officer then continues, "We seized 37 bags of rice, and they said if we have to go, we have to take seven bags. So we gave them seven bags to save our lives, so you see the risk I took."

The claim shared online in late November, which links this footage to a recent event, misrepresents the facts. The video was originally broadcast in 2021. In that broadcast, Aliyu Mohammed, the coordinator of Sector 4 Command of the Joint Border Patrol, revealed that his team had entered the Sambisa Forest, seized 37 bags of smuggled rice, and encountered bandits. In exchange for their safety, the bandits demanded seven bags of rice, which the customs officers handed over.

This incident dates back to the time when the Joint Border Patrol was active, a unit that was later disbanded in December 2024. The customs officers had been engaged in efforts to curb illegal rice imports into the country. The recent post incorrectly implies that the NCS had delivered rice to bandits in a recent operation, which is not the case. A reverse image search of key frames from the video revealed that the footage was originally published by TVC News on their verified YouTube channel in March 2021 under the title Customs operatives offer bandits bags of rice for safety.

Additionally, the Nigerian government has rejected claims made by the Trump administration, which in early November designated Nigeria as a country of particular concern due to allegations that radical Islamists were responsible for widespread killings of Christians in the country. This claim has been disputed by Nigerian authorities and independent security experts.

Despite the growing tensions and security challenges in Nigeria, this video is an outdated account and does not reflect any recent developments regarding the customs service or their interaction with armed groups in the region.

Author: Ava Mitchell