The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has lamented that despite President Muhammadu Buhari’s effort to rescue the economy of the country through efficient fiscal policy implementation, some unscrupulous elements are still sabotaging the process, by engaging in smuggling activities.
Customs Area Controller in-charge of Kwara Command, Comptroller Kehinde Ilesanmi, who made this known on Wednesday also said that the officers and men of the Nigeria Customs Service are recording huge successes in thwarting the illegal operations of smugglers across the length and breadth of the country.
A statement signed by Comptroller Ilesanmi showed that his command will not rest on its oars until it foiled the activities of economic saboteurs – by renewing strategies of blocking revenue leakages and preventing the smuggling of prohibited imported items.
According to him, his command’s merciless operation against the miscreants has resulted in astronomical successes of 23 seizures of different items listed as: 873 kegs of PMS of 25liters each which is about 21, 825 liters of PMS; 6 units of used vehicles of different types; 451 bags of foreign parboiled rice (50kg each); 23 Bales of second hand clothing and 1 Motorcycle used in conveying PMS.
Comptroller Ilesanmi said that the cumulative Duty Paid Value for all the above seizures was N34,797,020.00 – adding that, the current seizures surpassed the DPV of seizures made in the first quarter of last year 2022 with N25,628,520.00.
“However, in line with our extant laws and Standard Operational Procedure (SOP), most of the inflammable products have been auctioned to the members of the public. Journalists also were not left out of the process, and the amount generated as fees has been remitted into the government coffers.” he said.
According to the Controller, in line with revenue generation, his Command had, in the First Quarter of 2023, collected N3,566,997,587.12 which has surpassed the revenue collected same period in 2022 with N779,992,680.64.
“I hereby caution the smugglers and would-be smugglers to keep away from Kwara Command or be ready to face the law in its full wrath. The Command under my leadership will not negotiate the CGC’s zero tolerance to acts of economic sabotage. Smuggling in whatever form is an act of economic sabotage and the Command would ensure that it pursues smugglers to their trenches,’’ he threatened.
He however commended the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Ibrahim Hameed Ali (Rtd) and the entire management team of Nigeria Customs Service for deploying him to the state as the Customs Area Controller, Kwara Command.
