Customs raked N1.10bn from importers in 6 months

The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service’s (NCS), Strike Force in Zone ‘A’ has said it raised a Debit Notes (DN) worth more than N1.104 billion from importers at Lagos seaports.

The coordinator of the strike force, Assistant Comptroller (AC), Abba Kakudi, said that the DN was generated from importers who made false declarations on cargoes and paid lesser duties across the six area commands of the service in the South West.

Kakudi explained that the amount generated through the DN was made between January 1 and June 11, 2020.

He said that in spite of Covid-19 pandemic, which affected movement of goods, the team seized contraband items such as foreign parboiled rice, fairly used clothing and others.

Kakudi said: “Our seizures include 1000 bags of 50kg foreign parboiled rice with the Duty Payment Value (DPV) 13.252 million, 10 Tokunbo vehicles with DPV N31.184 million and 30 bales of second-hand clothing with DPV of N2.160 million.

“It is important to say that in order to help the economy to grow, there is no need to import what we can produce here in Nigeria or bringing in prohibited items.”

On the need to end the importation of rice, Kakudi said that the federal government had encouraged a lot of the farmers, where the local variety is being produced in large quantity.

He maintained that local rice was healthier than the foreign one, stressing that traders should avail themselves of the opportunity to market indigenous products in such a way, as to grow the economy maximally.

He said, “You will be surprised that in a bid to police the smugglers from bringing in these prohibited products, our officers face a lot of dangers as most of the smugglers are armed, sometimes not necessarily with rifles but matches, charms and other dangerous weapons, but we are not overwhelmed.

“This ugly situation is experienced more around the creaks where inhabitants mobilise some underaged people against us, to the extent of calling us names as well as some stoning us, all in a bid to make/secure seizures.”

He therefore appealed to those who believe that smuggling is very lucrative to desist from it, warning that Customs officers are always a step ahead of their plots and strategies.

“Smugglers are economic saboteurs and such trade cannot be the best means of livelihood due to inherent dangers as well as loses to those behind it.

“Smuggling ruins the economy of any nation, a lot of incentives have been provided by the Federal Government to revamp the nation’s economy and it should not be allowed to be reversed, ” he said.

He also warned importers and agents against aiding and abetting in the smuggling business. He further commended the Comptroller General of the Customs, Col Hameed Ali (rtd) for providing all the required logistics to achieve the feat.