The Trans Border Traders Association of Nigeria (TBTAN) has given its support to recent raids carried out by officers of the Nigeria Custom Service, especially at the Seme Border and the Tin Can Island Port, saying that it is the right of the customs to sanitize operations within its legitimate environment.
The Trans Border Traders Association of Nigeria (TBTAN) has given its support to recent raids carried out by officers of the Nigeria Custom Service, especially at the Seme Border and the Tin Can Island Port, saying that it is the right of the customs to sanitize operations within its legitimate environment.
In a statement that was made available to Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week by the National Coordinator of the group, Alhaji Mikky Okunola, the association also condemned widespread reports in the media insinuating that rice smuggling is on the rise at the Seme border.
Alhaji Okunola stated that as the organization saddled with the responsibility of revenue collection without undermining national security, the customs is expected to suppress smuggling and to always attach importance to information in order to achieve its aims and objectives.
“It is no longer news that Nigeria Customs Service carried our occasional raids at various entry points in the country in order to get rid of unwanted elements that are denting image of genuine freight forwarder or genuine trading public”
“Similar raid was carried out at Tin Can Island Port which led to the arrest of more than 100 persons. Most of them were charged to the court and remanded in prison custody as there is nobody to stand surety for their bail”, he recalled.
“The fact remains that there are undesirable elements who mingle with genuine practitioners within Customs restricted areas” he said
Apparently reacting to media reports about a recent incidence of gun battle between the Seme border customs and some die-hard smugglers, Alhaji Okunola stressed that: “One should not therefore blame the Customs Area Controller of Seme Border for taking appropriate necessary action when report of disarming of a customs operatives was brought to his notice” .
He assured that his association’s observation has been drawn to the different publications and that a letter has been submitted to the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala under reference TBTAN/344/MO/02 and dated 10th June, 2013 with a request that, the issue be thoroughly investigated.
Alhaji Okunola who is also a top member of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) explained that ANLCA in its efforts to separate the wheat from the chaff had introduced Bio Metric Identity Cards to identify its genuine members and it has been helpful in securing bail of any genuine practitioners during custom raids, including the person arrested during the mentioned raid by Nigeria Customs at Seme Command.
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