The on-going closure of the nation’s land borders has taken a new turn as the Nigeria Customs Service has suspended the supply of petroleum products to filling stations located within 20 kilometers to the nation’s borders with other countries.
The approval according to a circular from the service was given by the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Alli.
The suspension of the supply of petroleum products became imperative following the closure of Nigeria’s borders to neighbouring countries and to check the proliferation of petroleum products.
The circular, a copy of which was obtained on Thursday by Shipping Position Daily was dated November 6, 2019.
The circular, which was signed by Deputy Comptroller-General of Customs; Chidi A., was addressed to all Zonal Coordinators; Operations Swift Response; Sector Coordinators 1,2,3 and 4; Customs Area Comptrollers; Coordinators of CGC Strike Force Teams; Coordinator Headquarters Strike Force Team, and all Marine Command of Customs.
The short memo reads in part: “The Comptroller-General of Customs has directed that henceforth, no petroleum products no matter the tank size is permitted to be discharged in any filling station within 20 kilometers to the borders.
“Consequently, you are all to ensure strict and immediate compliance, please.”
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the service, Mr Joseph Attah said the directive was to check proliferation of petroleum products smuggling to some neighbouring countries.
Recall that in April, the Customs, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Department for Petroleum Resources (DPR) met and resolved to set up joint committee to address smuggling of petroleum products to neighbouring countries.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd) said the meeting was to address the disturbing situation of smuggling of petroleum products outside the country.
Ali disclosed that after briefing by the heads of NNPC and DPR, they resolved to set up a joint task force comprising Customs, DPR and NNPC to tackle the problem head on.
He explained that some unlicensed filling stations along the borderline had been identified as being responsible for the smuggling of petroleum products.
According to him, the task-force will ensure the closure of such unlicensed filling stations as well as address other means used to smuggle petroleum products.
He said that with the collaboration, licenced filling stations sited along the borders would also be monitored.
“This collaboration is important, we have the force but we need intelligence and information sharing to deal with this menace, we need a real time intelligence to nip this in the bud.
“We have 4,070 kilometres borders and it has been a challenge managing these borders effectively, and this underscored the need for us to collaborate with agencies like NNPC and DPR,’’ Ali had explained.
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