The Federal Operations Unit (FOU),; Zone ‘A’ of the Nigeria Customs Service, Ikeja, has warned importers and clearing agents against false declaration as the Command tightened the noose through intelligence-driven operations.
The Controller, FOU Zone ‘A’, Comptroller Mohammed Shuaibu, declared this during a courtesy visit by some maritime journalists on Thursday in Lagos.
Shuaibu, an anti-smuggling expert, promised to deploy his wealth of experience to navigate the complexities of the unit and bring to bear intelligence-driven operations rather than stopping containers incessantly on the highways.
“This command is meant to be an anti-smuggling command, but we also facilitate trade.
“In terms of our anti-smuggling activities, very soon we are going to showcase some of our seizures to the public. These include some illicit drugs and the suspects involved in the deal.
“What we are trying to do is to ensure that we don’t just stop any kind of containers, even those checking points you see our officers roving around, we would want to eradicate that, while we will be doing intelligence-driven operations.
“At any point in time, you will see that our officers will stop you and then remove those illegal items that are supposed to be extracted from your consignment.
” If importers and clearing agents are honest in declaring exactly what they have in their containers, why do we need to disturb ourselves moving around with vehicles to track them? We should relax in the comfort of our office to do the operation,”Shuaibu said.
He said that sometimes officers come out because of the insincerity of the declarants or the importers.
Shuaibu said that his unit would engage more on intelligence-driven operations, which they could be stationed at a strategic location due to information at their disposal.
The FOU boss, therefore, enjoined importers and clearing agents to always be compliant in their declarations, adding, “if they are compliant, officers don’t need to see contraband inside their boxes.
He enjoined the media to continue to support the service in sensitising the general public about engaging in legitimate trade and making honest declarations at the point of entry.
Shuaibu promised to consolidate on the successes achieved earlier, collaborate and synergise with the necessary stakeholders in facilitating trade.
According to him, the command always collaborates with sister agencies, stating that one of such collaborations was recently done with the Nigerian Army.
He said the NCS also collaborated with the media to showcase its operational modalities and also sensitise the public as well as engage the youths to do legitimate business while shunning illegal dealings.
According to Shuaibu , the sensitisation programme helps to facilitate trade and gives the importers the necessary information regarding cross-border trade.
He said that investigation showed that some importers do not know that what they were doing was illegal.
Shuaibu said customs had now adopted surveillance strategies to police the unapproved routes, and then re-channel them to the approved routes.
He said that importers need to do a few documentation and go rather than forfeiting their vehicles and consignments as a result of smuggling.
Shuaibu urged the stakeholders to engage in honest declaration to make the operation seamless for the government to generate more revenue.
