Hyacinth Chinweuba
The Ogun Area 1 Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has generated a revenue of N15,261,074.00 in the first six months of 2021.
The Customs Area Comptroller, Peter Kolo, who made this known on Thursday, said the Command seized 34,540 bags of foreign parboiled rice of 50kg each, which is an equivalent of 58 trailer loads, with other contraband goods within the period under review.
He expressed worries that if the huge quantity of rice was allowed into the Nigerian market, it would put the Federal Government’s rice policy into jeopardy.
Other contraband goods seized within the period under review, according to Kolo, included 31 kegs of 25 litres of vegetable oil, 30 bags of 50 kg sugar, 51 cartons of tomato paste, 1,514 wraps of cannabis sativa.
Other items included 44 pieces of used tyres, 2,224 kegs of 25 litres of petrol, 1,110 cartons of poultry products, 84 bales of second hand clothes, 115 pairs of used foot ware, 12 sacks of used hand bags, 20 cartoons of medicament and 127 pieces of body cream.
Kolo added that the cumulative duty paid value (DPV) for all the seized items amounted to eight hundred and thirty four million, seven hundred and sixty five thousand, two hundred and seventy three Naira and zero Kobo
(N834,765,273.00).
He also said that revenue generated was mainly from proceeds of auction sales of seized petroleum products (PMS) and scrap metals, stressing that “federal government’s directive on border closure is still subsisting, hence, there is no revenue generated from imports activities”.
Kolo said that the command had deployed intelligence in virtually all its operations which according to him, has yielded greater successes and continuously being recorded on daily basis.
“Criminal elements in the state, in whichever way and methods you plan your smuggling activities, we shall definitely uncover it, make arrest and inflict gross financial injury on such perpetuators”. The Area Controller stated.
He, however, reiterated that the continuous attacks on customs and other security operatives in the state by some criminal elements will not deter his men from sustaining the onslaught on smuggling activities.
“We are determined more than ever before to carry out this battle to its logical conclusion, Kolo submitted.