The Ogun Area command of the Nigeria Customs Service under the leadership of has reiterated its resolve not only to surpass the achievements of the former Comptroller but also to galvanise the axis as an income generating point for the nation and and a hell route for smugglers.
This was made known by the Area Comptroller while reeling out his achievements in just two weeks of assuming office.
In his address, explained that a total of thirty (30) seizures with Duty Paid Value of N53, 320, 025.00 were made. Items seized include: 28 vehicles (4 units of tokunbos and 24 means of conveyance), 3, 041 bags of foreign parboiled rice (50 kg each), 14 bags of 50kg each of foreign sugar, 3 bales of secondhand clothing, 295 kegs of vegetable oil, 211 kegs of PMS (petrol) and 99 compressed book packs of Cannabis sativa (popularly known as Indian Hemp) among other items. In the same vein, four (4) suspects were arrested in connection with smuggling of various prohibited items.
Among the suspects, one has been arraigned at the Federal High Court Abeokuta and others will follow suit.
“Seizure of the above mentioned quantity of rice will surely impact on the Federal Government policy on agricultural development in the area of boosting local rice production. On the other hand, the seizure of petroleum product intended to be smuggled out of Nigeria by some unscrupulous elements is a sound bite to prospective/intending smugglers of such items. While the cannabis sativa (Indian hemp) seized have thwarted the devilish motive of some drug traffickers and addicts.”
The area Comptroller also met with critical stakeholders including neighboring colleagues of Benin Republic. Some of the stakeholders he met include:
Head of Customs in Igolo of Benin Republic, Commissioner of Police Ogun state, Alake of Egbaland, Director DSS Ogun state, all heads of sister security agencies in Idiroko Border among others.
The aim of the visits according to him is to promote synergy geared towards effective and efficient service delivery.
The area Comptroller also added that new checkpoints have been added to the existing ones in order in order to make business transactions seamless and easy.
“On your way coming to Idiroko, you must have noticed the aggregation of the numbers of checkpoints man by personnel of Nigeria Customs Service.
This is a gigantic effort geared towards achieving one of the core functions of Customs (i.e trade facilitation) and to passionately key into the Federal Government Executive order on ease of doing business.
The area comptroller however warn his men and officers to desist from extortion, collusion and permissive behavior which will attract severe sanctions for any culprit, stressing that hard work and exemplary behavior will henceforth be rewarded adequately.
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