Smuggling: Customs Partners FRSC, To Stop Registration of Smuggled Vehicles

In a bid to stem the tide of smuggling of fairly-used vehicles into Nigeria, the Nigeria Customs Service has said that it would is partnering  with the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to block registration of such vehicles.
The alliance according to superintendent of customs Fateh Fateh, will henceforth make it impossible to use any smuggled vehicle in Nigeria.

In a bid to stem the tide of smuggling of fairly-used vehicles into Nigeria, the Nigeria Customs Service has said that it would is partnering  with the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to block registration of such vehicles.
The alliance according to superintendent of customs Fateh Fateh, will henceforth make it impossible to use any smuggled vehicle in Nigeria.
Fateh spoke on Tuesday while presenting a paper on "Single Window For e-trade In Nigeria", where he disclosed that Customs was in the process of linking with the FRSC to enable it lift data of imported vehicles directly from Customs.
He also disclosed that the age-long ASYCUDA system would be phased out when the Customs fully upgrades to the single window platform by January 2013.
Giving an insight into how the initiative would work, Fateh explained that under the arrangement, importers would no longer b e required to present papers pertaining to importation of their vehicle as a prerequisite for registration of their vehicles.
According to him, once the news system becomes operational, every data that the FRSC will require can be accessed directly from the Nigeria Customs Service.
"Vehicles smuggled in are ‘uncustomed’; under no circumstances should they be registered. When you import legally you get a duty certificate. With that you can register your vehicle. We want to make it difficult now for people with unregistered vehicles to register them," Fateh said.
He added that the FRSC/ Customs strategy has the capability of also helping  to check smuggling and also address insecurity. "If you bring in a vehicle through the bush, no one knows what is inside. That can pose a security challenge. So we are trying to make it impossible for registering such vehicles," Fateh stressed.