The Ogun State Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, (NCS), has realized a total sum of N1.4billion within eight months of assumption of office by the out-going Controller, Compt Ahmed Mohammed Jamo.
It would be recalled that Jamo took over as the Ogun Command Area Controller from Compt Emmanuel Kane on 1st September, 2009.
Conducting journalists round the Idiroko border of the Customs on the spot assessment of some contraband goods seized from smugglers, Compt Jamo said the command recorded a total of 187 seizures between 1st September 2009 and May, 2010.
The seized items include 157 units of vehicles, 35 motorcycles, 1,788 jerry cans of 25-litres vegetable oil, 3,458 bales of textile materials, 1,492 cartons of frozen poultry products, 585 cartons of sweets/chewing gum/spaghetti, 5,347 pairs of shoes, and 12 and a half sacks of 50 kg bags of Indian hemp (cannabis).
Others seizures made during the period include 153 bags of 50kg rice, 71 cartons of medicaments, 153 cartons of mosquito repellant, 44 cartons of serviette papers, 113 cartons of apples, 7,022 pieces of jeans/under-wears/children’s wears and 10,343 pieces of travelling bags. The duty paid value of the seizures was put at N190, 307,992.00.
According to Jamo: “Within the same period of eight months, the Command generated and accounted for the sum of one billion, three hundred and forty one million, four hundred and six thousand, nine hundred and eighty naira, two kobo (N1,341,406,980.02) as revenue (import/exercise duties, ETLS and other levies) for the government”.
The CAC, who any moment from now, is expected to resume duty as the Customs Area Controller of the PH Area 1, Rivers State following the recent reshuffles of Customs Area Controllers, said his Command’s continued and sustained anti smuggling intelligence gathering efforts to rid the command of smugglers paid off recently when it was able to smash new trends and tactics being adopted by smugglers.
The elated CAC said: “The antennae boys (informants) employed by smugglers to give them information on movement of our mobile surveillance squads were dislodged by our superior information gathering network. Smuggling of vegetable oil disguised in polythene sacks was busted by my hard-working officers.”
Jamo also lamented that the use of motorcycles by smugglers had become a nuisance which necessitated the deployment of some Customs officers to monitor and fish out their ring leaders. “Our findings revealed that the real smugglers are from Lagos and that after having gathered their illegal goods at the Benin Republic side of the border, they then engaged the motor cyclists who cross these goods into Nigeria. This smuggling ring was crushed, with the seizure of thirty five (35) motorbikes and the goods which were mostly prohibited textile materials”.
He, however, said that the 12 bags of Indian hemp (cannabis) were handed over to the NDLEA officials.
The CAC promised to positively turn around the fortunes of Port Harcourt Area 1 command in terms of revenue generation.
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