Customs records N4.5bn seizures in one month, redeploy 37 comptrollers

The Federal Operations Unit Zone A of Nigeria Customs Service in charge of Lagos has said it recorded N4.5 billion seizures of contraband in January 2022.

Speaking to journalists in Lagos, Acting Comptroller, Deputy Comptroller Hussein Kehinde Ejibunu, said the seizures were recorded in the South West region and that effort was on to ensure that smuggling was brought to its barest minimum.

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Ejibunu listed the seizures including 9,697  bags of 50kg each, 3,173 cartons of basmati rice at 5kg each and 297 bags (25kg) Foreign  Parboiled  Rice, 1,076  kegs at  25litres of  PMS, 195  bales  of  used  clothes, among others.

He called on members of the public to always support the NCS with credible intelligence that would lead to the arrest of smugglers and prevention of prohibited goods from entering the country.

Meanwhile, the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd) has approved the deployment of 37 comptrollers to various units, departments and commands across the country.

In a statement by the Deputy National PRO, DC T. Bomodi, yesterday, Ali called on the newly posted officers to justify the confidence reposed in them by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) management by applying their years of experience and training in trade facilitation and anti-smuggling activities on their new mandates.

Ali reiterated the need for all area comptrollers and unit heads to take full charge of the affairs of their commands by ensuring absolute compliance with extant fiscal policies in view of the enormous expectations of the government regarding revenue generation in the current year.