The Customs Area Controller in charge of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone ‘A’ of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS); Comptroller Mohammed Uba said yesterday that the federal government has not issued Form ‘M’ to any importer of rice in the past six months.
He explained that the move is aimed at discouraging importation of rice as part of the policy on local production; he added that the country can be self-sufficient in the commodity.
He also urged importers to desist from developing other countries by spending huge amount of money importing products like rice, even as he called on Nigerians to give useful information on smuggling activities.
The Comptroller stated this while speaking with journalists on the performance of the unit in January, 2018. He said that the unit intercepted contraband with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of about N1.70 billion in January.
On rice, he explained that, "there are certain restrictions and for the past six months now, no Form ‘M’ has been issued to any importer of rice.
The federal government has a policy on the local rice production. We produce rice in so many states, like Kano, Kebbi, Ebonyi, among others, we can be self-sufficient, that is why the federal government has banned the importation of rice’’
‘’We should not be developing other countries let us develop our own country so for that reason the federal government has called on every one of us to give information that will lead to the seizure of smuggled rice".
Speaking further on the seized items, he disclosed that, ‘’the seized items include: 31 assorted vehicles, 8,400 bags of foreign parboiled rice, 1,652 cartons of frozen poultry products, 835 jerry cans of vegetable oil, 10 sacks of Hemp, 2,208 pieces of used tyres, and 159 bales of used clothing.
“Among the detained vehicles include four Rolls Royce, a Porche Panamera, a Jaguar, a Bentley, two Lexus Jeep, two G wagon, a Toyota Land Cruiser, five Toyota Corolla, seven and Mercedes Benz, among others mostly 2017 models.
“These 31 assorted vehicles alone have a DPV of N1, 429 billion.
“While some of the vehicles were intercepted along Ijebu Ode Expressway, others were evacuated at various raids in Parkview Estate Victoria Island, Banana Island, Alhaji Bankole Crescent Ikeja and Tola Adewunmi St. Maryland,’’ Garba said.
He urged owners of the vehicles to come forward with valid Customs clearance documents, adding that failure to do so would lead to seizure and subsequent forfeiture to the Federal Government in line with the laws of the land.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Customs action is in line with the provisions of Sections 147 of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) Cap 45, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.’’
According to him, the law empowers Customs to search premises, and also Section 158 of CEMA, Cap 45 Laws of Federation of Nigeria empowers NCS to patrol freely.
“In the spirit of inter-agency collaboration, the comptroller said that the seized hemp would be handed over to the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Tuesday for further investigation,’’ he said.
He, however, said that 10 suspects had been arrested in connection with the 163 seizures
Garba warned all smugglers to desist from any act of illegal trade, and urged them to invest their money in a legitimate business that would yield dividend on their investments.
He said that there was no amount of resistance from the smugglers and their mob accomplices that would deter Customs officers from performing their statutory responsibilities in all aspects.
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