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Tag: Customs

  • Border closure: Nigerians consuming expired rice —Customs boss

    The Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) has said that Nigerians consuming foreign rice were eating an expired product that was only polished and re-bagged.

    Ali also said that the closure of the nation’s border would attract long term gains, which requires Nigerians to make sacrifices.

    He made these remarks on Wednesday during his inspection tour of Area I Command, Port Harcourt and Area II Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, Onne.

    Ali said the security outfit must reach out to Nigerians through the media and make them realise the ”deadly” effect of what they were consuming.

    Ali pointed out that the aim of the smugglers of foreign rice and other banned products was to bring the country to her knees, adding that the Customs will continue to maintain zero tolerance for smuggling.

    He said, ”We are consuming expired foreign rice and when it causes cancer, we begin to look for who to blame. What they do is that they polish the rice, re-bag them for unsuspecting consumers. That is what we eat.

    ”We (Nigeria Customs Service) must reach out to Nigerians through the media and make them know the deadly effect of what they are consuming.”

    On the closure of Nigeria’s border, Ali stated that the country would be able to realise its deficiencies and tackle them once and for all, adding that Nigerians must make sacrifices for the nation’s industries to grow.

  • Just In: FG orders complete border import, export ban

    The Comptroller-General, Nigerian Customs Service, retried Col. Hameed Ali has insisted that all import and export of goods from the nation’s land borders remain banned until there is an agreement with neighbouring countries on the kind of goods that should enter and exit Nigeria.

    According to him, the measure is for the security agencies to be able to scan the goods entering the country.

    He maintained all goods must only enter through the legitimate air and sea ports where they can undergo thorough scanning and certified fit for consumption.

    According to him: “We hope that by the time we get to the end of this exercise, we would have exactly between we and our neighbors agree on the type of goods that should enter and exit our country.

    “For now, all goods, whether illicit or non-illicit, are banned from going and coming into Nigeria.

    “Let me add that for the avoidance of doubt that we included all goods because all goods can equally come through our seaports.

    “For that reason, we have deemed it necessary for now that importers of such goods should go through our controlled boarders where we have scanners to verify the kind of goods and how healthy to our people can be conducted.”

    The Customs boss broke the news in Abuja during a joint press briefing on joint boarder patrol that is codenamed ‘EX-SWIFT RESPONSE.”

    The Ex-SWIFT RESPONSE is coordinated by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) comprising the Nigerian Police Force, Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the Nigerian Armed Forces and other security agencies to address trans-boarder security issues.

    He insisted that despite the rights for movement of persons the enabling ECOWAS protocols, there must be primacy of security over such rights.

    Ali, who was asked whether the Federal Government had not breached the rights of the citizenry to movement and international trade, said that “when it comes to security, all laws take back a seat.

    “We want to our nation, we want make sure that our people are protected. You must be alive and well for you to begin to ask for your rights. Your rights come when you are well and alive.

    “Go and the people in Maiduguri when Boko Haram was harassing their lives, the only question was survival, there is no question of right. This time Nigeria must survive first then before we begin to ask for our rights.”

     

  • Customs operatives raid popular Abuja hotel, give reasons

    The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), said operation of its officers and men at Fraiser Suit Hotel in Abuja was to remove some suspected vehicles hidden there.

    The Customs’ Public Relations Officer, Mr Joseph Attah made this known in a statement in Abuja on Thursday.

    Attah explained that the operation was carried out based on intelligence report that some exotic cars were taken to the hotel from cars mart to evade payment of duties.

    “Our attention has been drawn to misinformation making the rounds concerning visit of our operatives to an Abuja Hotel to remove suspected smuggled vehicles.

    “Our operatives relying on intelligence that owners of some exotic cars including bullet proof without duty payment quickly removed their vehicles from a car mart and took same to Frasier Hotel, Abuja.

    “On arrival at the hotel, our operatives interacted with the manager and eventually left with four vehicles, leaving six behind, while expecting the manager to provide the keys to those six,’’ he explained.

    He said the manager of the hotel visited the customs headquarters Thursday morning and dropped a written undertaking to produce a Customs vehicle duty payment documents to support his claim that the vehicles were not smuggled.

    “We assured him of prompt release of the vehicles as soon as evidence of appropriate duty payments is presented.

    “Unfortunately, we woke up to mischievous misrepresentation, our operation has nothing to do with the guests in the hotel.

    “Some even went as far as saying that the operatives went from room to rooms waking up guests to come out for vehicle verification. That is untrue.’’

    He said that NCS did not engage in such thing and had no intention to start raiding hotels.

    Attah emphasised that Customs operatives never infringed on the rights and comfort of guests in the hotel.

    The spokesperson urged Nigerians to be wary of social media posts and also enjoined members of the public to discountenance the fabrication as Customs would continue to work in the interest of Nigerians.

  • Customs collect N5bn daily during border closure –Ali

    The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Hameed Ali, on Wednesday told the National Assembly members that the agency had been raking in between N4.7bn and N5.8bn since the Federal Government closed the nation’s borders.

    Ali stated this when he appeared before the Senate and House of Representatives joint committees on Finance and National Planning, working on the 2020 – 2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.

    The development came just as the joint panel summoned the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and the Controller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammed Babandede, to appear before it on Thursday.

    The heads of the two agencies are expected to brief the joint panel on the MTEF/FSP documents.

    The NCS boss had while addressing the lawmakers said the land border closure was a blessing to the nation.

    He said, “When we closed the border, my fear was that our revenue was going to drop. To be honest, our revenue kept increasing.

    “There was a day in September that we collected N9.2bn in one day. It had never happened before.

    “This was after the closure of the border and since then, we have maintained an average of about N4.7bn to N5.8bn on a daily basis which is far more than we used to collect.”

  • Ethiopian Customs to seize undeclared currencies above $3,000 from travelers

    The Ethiopian Customs and Revenue Authority recently stepped up its moves to commence seizure of foreign currencies and valuables in excess of 3,000 dollars.

    Mr Friday Akpan, Acting Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja.

    Akpan said that the rule on the forfeiture of undeclared valuables applies to all passengers travelling to Ethiopia or transiting, including the prosecution of offenders of money laundering in line with Ethiopian Laws.

    He said that the Ministry, therefore, urged all prospective Nigerian travelers to please take note of this development and adhere strictly to avoid undue embarrassment at their airport.

    Akpan said that the Embassy of Nigeria in Addis Ababa was engaging the Ethiopian authorities to secure the release of undeclared monies seized from Nigerians.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in January, the Embassy and Permanent Mission of Nigeria in Ethiopia had earlier informed Nigerian travelers on the seizure plans of excess currencies by the Ethiopian Authorities.

    The information prior was aimed at safeguarding Nigerian travelers from having their monies and valuables confiscated by the Ethiopian authorities.

  • Customs now rakes in N5.5bn revenue daily – Controller General

    The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said on Thursday in Lagos that, its revenue generation has increased to the region of N5.5 billion daily.

    The Comptroller-General (CGC) Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) made this known during a working visit to the headquarters of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) in Lagos.

    The CGC, who was represented at the event by the Assistant Comptroller General (ACG) and Customs Coordinator in-charge of Zone A, Mr Kaycee Ekekezie, said that the feat was made possible as a result of the automation of customs operations at the ports.

    According to the customs boss, the increase in revenue generation has helped in the prompt payment of salaries of workers of the NCS and made the organisation a critical contributor to the nation’s treasury in terms of revenue generation.

    “The automation of the customs system at ports and borders has made it easy for the service to block revenue leakages and meet targets.
    .
    “The system has made transaction in ports user friendly while eliminating human contact and its attendant frictions in the cargo transaction business,’’ Ali said.

    The customs helmsman, who charged the freight forwarders on trade compliance, said that sincere declaration and truthful documentation would aid both the customs and the forwarders to achieve a common goal of trade facilitation devoid of cargo delays.

    The NAGAFF Founder, Dr Boniface Aniebona, who hosted the occasion in his remarks at the event, asked port users to help the NCS by adhering to trade compliance.

    He said that such drive would foster good relationship with the customs personnel.

    Aniebona aid that as an association they would begin the sanitation from within, by exposing and sanctioning erring members in order to maintain the good relationship with the customs.

  • Group vows to instigate campaign against Customs FOU, CGC strike force

    A group of freight forwarders has described the Nigeria Customs anti-smuggling war as a scam contrived to enrich favoured persons within and outside the service.

    The group alleged that operatives of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) and Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC) Strike Force merely harass and extort money from traders and their agents, and vowed to start a social media campaign against them that will engender their reforms.

    Mr. Godfrey Nwosu, Secretary of the Tin Can Island chapter of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) said in Lagos that the two organs of the Nigeria Customs Service have been bleeding the nation’s economy and innocent traders, while enriching a circle of customs personnel and their cohorts.

    Describing the FOU and the CGC Strike Force as mere instruments of oppression and extortion, Nwosu compared both bodies to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), saying that as the police SARS has been undergoing reforms as a result of a social media campaign, the same fate will befall the two customs bodies.

    According to him, the NAGAFF Tin-Can Chapter intends to spearhead similar campaigns against the two customs entities (#EndFOU, #EndCGCStrikeForce), with the aim of “instigating reforms to curb the high-handedness and exploitative tendencies of the operatives.”

    He said that the recourse to #EndFOU, #EndCGCStrikeForce campaigns will help check the frequent losses of lives from gunshots at scenes of FOU checkpoints, during market raids, during high speed chases of suspected smugglers, and gunfights between both groups.

    “We can’t continue to record avoidable deaths, all because splinter FOUs mount checkpoints and raid markets to intercept consignments and extort money from traders or their agents for goods that were duly cleared and released from the seaports, airports or land border stations.

    “We are crying bitterly about the agonies that traders, particularly importers, and their agents are regularly subjected to along the highways by multiple FOU units, intercepting cargoes and seizing these and taking them away to their operational headquarters where the cargo owner or the representative is unable to meet the terms of their extortion. At the headquarters, the extortion rates are so much higher and you end up paying out so much if you are desirous of retrieving your goods that were impounded not because of any legitimate infraction, but simply to intimidate and extort you.”

    Nwosu accused the FOUs and the CGC Strike Force of regularly organizing press conferences to announce and display alleged smuggled goods purportedly seized by “eagle-eyed and gallant officers from economic saboteurs”. He alleged that these events are often stage-managed, as the same goods are recycled to hoodwink members of the public gullible enough to believe them.

    The freight forwarder further alleged: “One seizure they would flash it on the media, on the news more than three times. Strike Force will come and tell you ‘this rice, this okrika was caught’. Tomorrow, FOU will come and splash the same seizures as its achievement in this system!”

    He urged the Customs Comptroller-General, Colonel Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd), and his management team to harmonize the operations and manage the human resources of the Service effectively through a more strategic deployment of its personnel. He suggested that Customs management could deploy the FOU to be part of the cargo clearing and delivery system at the ports, if it does not trust in the capacity of resident officers at the land border posts, seaports or airports to execute their briefs in the system, instead of allowing the FOU operatives to haunt the highways and engage in extortion and impounding of cargoes on transit to warehouses or markets.

  • Two injured as customs, air force officials clash in Badagry

    Two men of the Nigerian air force sustained serious injuries during a scuffle with customs officials at the Gbaji checkpoint in the Badagry area of Lagos state on Thursday.

    A witness told NAN that the incident happened when the air men, travelling in a Toyota Camry car were stopped for routine checks by the customs officials.

    “One of the air men told the customs officials that there was nothing in the car but the customs men insisted on checking their vehicle,” the witness said.

    “A struggle ensued as the air force men tried to disarm the customs men. However, one of the air force men was hit in the head while the other sustained injuries on his left arm.”

    NAN reported that the customs men and other agencies swiftly abandoned the checkpoint after the incident for fear of reprisal attack.

    The injured men were later taken in an air force ambulance to the Mother and Child Hospital, Nigeria Air Force Forward Operations Base at Ahanve, Badagry, for medical attention.

    The two injured officers were identified as Waziri and Chidi Onyecheke.

    When contacted, the spokesman for the Seme command of the Nigerian Customs Service, Saidu Abudulahi, said that the customs officers, who engaged the air force men were not from the command.

    He, however, said that the command would meet with the air force authorities to resolve the matter.

    Men of the customs have however, returned to the checkpoint early on Friday.

    The Lagos-Badagry highway is known for multiple checkpoints mounted by various security agencies in their bid to extort money from road users.

    Earlier in the week, Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, said most of the officers manning checkpoints in the area are not known to the authorities.

  • Apapa Customs Command generated N61bn revenue in 2 months – Official

    The Apapa Command of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) generated N61 billion revenue between January and February.

    Its outgoing Comptroller, Bashir Abubakar, made this known in Lagos on Monday during the handover ceremony to the new Comptroller of the command, Mohammed Abba-Kura.

    Abubakar said that the feat was achieved by the drive of the officers at enforcing compliance in the operations.

    “The command between January 1st to March 14th seized 24 containers of tomato paste and vegetable oil with duty paid value of N200, 867, 000.

    “The export seat in the command made 2, 505, 076 US dollars and N765. 3 million on Free Onboard (FOB),” he said.

    Abubakar, who described the incoming Comptroller as a goal better, said that with Abba-Kura, the good target of the command would be maintained.

    He urged officers of the command to extend goodwill and cooperation to the new comptroller, while thanking them for a warm relationship during his stay in the command.

  • EFCC arrests impersonator of Customs’ boss

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested one Azeez Afolayan, for impersonating the Comptroller-General, Nigeria Customs Service, Retired Col. Hameed Ali and using his name to allegedly scam job seekers.

    EFCC spokesman Mr Tony Orilade made this known in a press statement in Abuja on Tuesday.

    The commission said that Afolayan was arrested by EFCC operatives in Ilorin, Kwara, following complaints from one of his victims.

    “Trouble started for him when a staff of the Customs Service, Hasaan Muhammed petitioned the EFCC, accusing him of defrauding innocent Nigerians seeking employment into the service.

    “He had so far defrauded them of about N1 million.

    “Under interrogation, he admitted to the crime,” it said.

    According to the statement, Afolayan confessed that “I started duping people since 2017 up till date; I have duped about five people.

    “I collected different amount of money from my victims and all of them used to transfer money to my bank accounts.

    “I used to tell them that I will help them to secure employment with the Nigerian Custom Services, but I was just scamming.”

    Some of the items recovered from him include, Nigerian Customs Service Application Forms, employment letters, passport photographs of some job seekers among others.

    “He will soon be charged to court,” the statement said.