CAC, Seme Customs Command
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Seme Area Command has advocated the need for security agencies to comply with the Presidential directives on ease of doing business and strict adherence to the ECOWAS protocols of eliminating trade barriers along the Lagos-Abidjan corridor.
The Customs Area Controller ,Comptroller Uba Mohammed Garba, made the plea in a statement made available to newsmen by the command’s Public Relations Officer, Nurudeen Abdullahi.
Uba who is the chairman of the Joint Border Security Meeting (JBSM) was quoted to have informed all the relevant agencies at the border station to checkmate the menace of proliferation of checkpoints along the corridor.
Consequently, the Comptroller ,further affirmed the setting up of an ad-hoc Joint Taskforce from the JBSM platform to be headed by the Commanding Officer 243 Battalion, as some internal monitoring mechanism to checkmate the menace of proliferation of checkpoints along the corridor.
According to the release, the Comptroller charged officers to complement the Comptroller General of Customs effort by adhering strictly to trade procedures in order to achieve the core mandate of raising revenue, suppression of smuggling and facilitation of legitimate trade along the Lagos-Abidjan corridor.
He advised security heads to be decisive in taking actions that will facilitate legitimate trade viz-a-viz the ease of doing business in order to enhance the growth of the Nigerian Economy. On revenue collection, the command boss added that it generated over one billion naira as revenue within the period under review.
Commenting on the revenue generated and seizures made, Comptroller Mohammed Uba Garba disclosed that the Command is re-strategizing by deploying a proactive anti-smuggling approach to enforce the Federal Government policies which will boost revenue generation in the command.”
The statement read, “The Enforcement unit recorded the seizures of fourteen exotic vehicles, amongst which are: BMW 5 series, Toyota Venza, Mercedes Benz ML 350, Lexus RX 300 among others with a total Duty Paid Value (DPV) of over seventy million Naira.
A total of 4, 504 bags of Parboiled rice were also seized with DPV of N81, 162,080 (equivalent to 7 trailer trucks); other items like frozen poultry products, vegetable oil, and sugar worth over Thirteen million Naira were also seized.
“Three suspects arrested in connection to some of the seizures are currently under investigation and possible prosecution.“The sum of One Billion, fifty million, eight hundred and sixty eight thousand, five hundred and seventy naira, twenty kobo only (N1, 050, 868, 570.20) for August and September, 2018.
The Anti- Smuggling unit of the Command also made a total of one hundred and twenty (120) seizures with a duty paid value of ninety five million, seventy thousand and five naira only (N95, 070, 005.00) for the months under review.It stated further that the visit of Headquarters team led by Deputy Controller General of Customs in Charge of Enforcement, inspection and investigation, to sensitize officers on the abuse of social media.
Controller Mohammed, Uba Garba expressed dismay over the flagrant abuse and unprofessional conduct by officers in disseminating official information through the social media, pledging adherence, commitment by the command to stamp out the menace.
The Customs Area Controller also noted that the reinvigorated anti-smuggling unit of the command is yielding positive results as drug traffickers and immigrants who uses illegal routes are being apprehended.
While handing over to the Nigeria Police Force (represented by ASP Hillary Ikejiaka) armed robbery suspects arrested by the command (Ndidi Chukwuma and Toffa Joshua with N8,500,000.00 in their possession and Mr Difo Kenneth Cornelius with 14x500grams wraps of Cannabis Sativa valued at N85,050.00 to the NDLEA represented by Udontong Essien on the 24th of August, 2018 and 14th of September, 2018 respectively for onward investigation and prosecution.
The commands helmsman alluded that the need for synergy and collaboration in executing the core function among security agencies cannot be over emphasized as demonstrated by the handing over process.