By Uzor Odigbo
Seme Border Command of Nigeria Customs has made a total of N2,793,242,214.21 worth of seizures and revenue.
Controller of the command, Mohammed Garba disclosed this Tuesday at the border.
Garba said the sum of N2,627,149,100.21 was collected as revenue from March to June 18, 2019.
He told journalists that the intensified operation of the Enforcement Unit has drastically reduced smuggling activities at the border.
A breakdown of the seizures he showed to reporters include 8,304 bags of 50kg foreign rice which is equivalent to over 14 Trailer trucks of rice valued at N88,728,240; 31 units of 25litres Jerry Cans of vegetable oil worth N269,911;35 units of 50kg Bags of sugar with duty paid value of N444,785 and 138 units of 25litres of petrol with Duty Paid Value of N212,100.
Also seized were 71 Cartons of Expired Food Seasoning- N458,109;
336 Cartons of alcoholic drinks – N4,776,525, 1,582 parcels of Cannabis Sativa found concealed in a noddles truck; and another notable arrest of 55 parcels of Cannabis Sativa concealed in a Sienna bus.
A total of 1,686 parcels were arrested with street value worth of over N30 million for the period under review to include: 175 x 6 Yards of Textiles – N2,242,287, 15 sacks of used clothes – N677, 486,
28 cartons of Medicament – N1,083,978, 410 sacks of School bags – N13,227,113, 2,000 cartons of expired biscuits – N7,742,700, and a truck loaded with 493 packs of Baby Diapers- N4,100,000.
Uba also said: “As part of our community service, the Customs Comptroller General, directed that a total of 25,000 bags of Foreign Parboiled Rice (equivalent of 42 trailer trucks), 650 bags of Sugar, 150 cartons of Tin tomato, 150 bags of flour and 250 kegs of vegetable oil were transferred to the Nigeria Army Corps of Supply and Transport (NACST) between the month of April and May, for onward delivery to Yobe state government, Damaturu for distribution to IDPs in the state.
“It could be recalled also that some orphanages based in the Badagry region benefited from relief materials as distributed by the Sub-Committee coordinating the distribution of Relief materials earlier in the year. Some of the homes are Hephzibah Homes Orphanage, Lady Atinuke Oyindamola Memorial Home for the Mentally Challenged, So-said Charity home.
“A total of Eleven (13) vehicles have also been seized. Notable amongst them are Toyota Highlander (2005), Range Rover (2007), Toyota Rav4 (2006), Toyota Venza (2010) and others. The combined duty paid value (DPV) for the vehicles stands at N46,129,880.
The Grand Total for both seizures and revenue is N2,793,242,214.21.”
Garba stated that six suspects were arrested during the period under review.
He further re-emphasized the command’s determination to detect, arrest and prosecute those who fail to comply with the extant regulations; as their failure will be a cause for regret.
He called on patriotic citizens to support the command by reporting any smuggling activity or any relevant information that will assist the Command in discharging its statutory obligations.
He added that the command aims at assessing modern communication tools to improve cross border efficiency along the corridor in facilitating border crossing for the promotion of regional integration towards simplification, standardization and harmonization of border crossing procedures, so as to achieve the core mandate of the service.
This is coming at the heels of efforts by the Customs high command for customs-to-customs inter-connectivity between Nigeria and Benin Republic which will revolutionize Customs operations at the border post.
