Customs, however, warned smugglers to desist from smuggling grains, adding that it would make the borders unsafe heaven for them
By Kehinde Okeowo
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has started carrying out the directive issued by President Bola Tinubu to return seized food items at the border to their owners.
This is as the Sokoto/Zamfara Area Command of NCS recently gave 15 seized trucks of grains to their rightful owners.
The development was disclosed on Tuesday in a statement issued and made available to pressmen by the Public Relations Officer of the command. Abdullahi Abubakar.
According to him, the command took the decision following the orders from the President.
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Prior to this, President Tinubu had directed the Customs to return all food items that were seized at the border by the government agency to their owners.
He, however, added that the release of the goods must be with the condition that the items would be sold in Nigerian markets to help increase food availability.
While handing over the trucks of grain at the command’s headquarters in Sokoto,
the Customs Area Comptroller in charge of the command, Kamal Mohammed,
charged the traders to reciprocate President Tinubu’s magnanimity by ensuring that the grains were sold to Nigerian markets.
Kamal added that the command, in collaboration with the Customs Intelligence Unit and the Joint Border Patrol Team, “would monitor the sales of these grains in Nigerian markets and ensure they were not smuggled out of the country.”
He further warned smugglers to desist from smuggling grains, adding that his command would make the borders unsafe heaven for smugglers, and “unpatriotic elements penchant to make money at the detriment of the country.”
Responding, the Secretary of the Grain Sellers Association of Sokoto, Dahiru Ladan, thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for tempering justice with mercy.
He assured the president that the union would ensure that the grains were sold to Nigerian markets.