The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Strike Force in Zone ‘A’ said it has raised a Debit Notes (DN) worth more than N1.104 billion within six months.
In a statement signed by the coordinator of strike force, Assistant Comptroller Abba Kakudi in Lagos on Thursday, the DN was generated from importers of cargo that made false declaration on cargoes at the Lagos seaports.
Kakudi also added that the DN was generated from importers who paid lesser duties across the six area commands of the service in the South West.
Giving the details of the seizures, he added, "our seizures include: 1000 bags of 50kg foreign parboiled rice with the Duty Payment Value (DPV) 13.252 million, 10 Tokunbo vehicles with DPV N31.184 million and 30 bales of second hand clothing with DPV of N2.160 million. It is important to say that in order to help the economy to grow, there is no need to import what we can produce here in Nigeria or bringing in prohibited items.”
He said, “You will be surprised that in a bid to police the smugglers from bringing in these prohibited products, our officers face a lot of dangers as most of the smugglers are armed, sometimes not necessarily with rifles but matches, charms and other dangerous weapons, but we are not overwhelmed.
“This ugly situation is experienced more around the creeks where inhabitants mobilise some under-aged people against us, to the extent of calling us names as well as some stoning us, all in a bid to make/secure seizures.”
He lamented that smuggling ruins the economy of any nation, adding that a lot of incentives have been provided by the Federal Government to revamp the nation’s economy and it should not be allowed to be reversed.
Discussion about this post