Oluyinka Onigbinde
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it has configured its operating procedures to ensure the safety of officers who battle smugglers during the last few months of the year.
Findings have shown that during the last quarter of the year, approaching the yuletide period, recalcitrant traders and importers’ quest to make more profits through smuggling is always at its peak.
However, in a chat with our correspondent, the National Public Relations Officer of the service, Deputy Controller Timi Bomodi, informed our correspondent that officers of the service have been trained to look out for situations where their safety will be compromised and then take effective measures to safeguard themselves.
He said all commands and units are on high alert against unrepentant daredevil smugglers, adding that the service remained resolute in enforcing Customs extant laws and suppressing smuggling to prevent revenue loss.
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“We have configured our operating procedures to ensure that the safety of officers is prioritised. They’ve been trained to look out for situations where their safety will be compromised and then take effective measures to safeguard themselves. So yes the service has done that; all commands and units are at high alert to that effect”.
Reacting to calls by some citizens to the service to open the borders for rice importation owing to the increased cost of rice in the market, Bomodi said, “It is not the job of NCS to allow or disallow importation, if the government feels that they want to implement it, then we implement, it’s not our job to make policy decisions, we only implement”, he said.
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