Customs

Seme Customs intercepts 705 contraband items with DPV N409.8m

Oladimeji Ige

The Nigeria Customs Service, Seme Border Area Command, Wednesday, said it had intercepted contraband with duty paid value of N409, 851,533 since the reopening of the border.

The Customs Area Controller (CAC) of the Command, Comptroller Bello Jibo, disclosed this at a news conference at ECOWAS Joint Border Post, Seme-Krake.

He said that the banned substances, smuggled into Nigeria through the border, included 232 wraps of cannabis sativa, 98 used vehicles, 5,568 bags of rice and two sacks of condom.

Jibo said that the contraband were smuggled in within the period from Dec.17th, when the Federal Government announced the reopening of four land borders to date.

He said that officers of the command had taken full advantage of renewed strategies to intensify the fight against smuggling.

“This has led to remarkable interception of 705 items, the duty paid value of the seized items is N409, 851,533 only.

“The breakdown of the seized items is, 5,568 bags of 50kg foreign rice, 3,208 Jerry cans of petrol, 98 used vehicles, 294 cartons of frozen poultry products and 232 parcels of cannabis sativa.

“Others are 798 cartons of tomato paste, three cartons of sugar, six cartons of slippers, 305 pairs of used shoes, 30 cartons of Nescafe, and 19 cartons of non-alcoholic wine.

“We also seized 10 cartons of cigarettes, 12 cartons of herbal soap and two sacks of condoms,” he said.

The Comptroller said that the achievement was an indication that men and officers of the command are not losing its guard in detecting and stemming the tide of nefarious activities perpetrated by daredevil smugglers.

He said that with the reopening of land borders, the command had harnessed all revenue components in line with the new operational guidelines.

The controllers disclosed that the command had recorded trade volume of 348,827,775 metric tons of exported goods with Free on Board (FOB) value of N4, 277,047,153 only.

According to Jibo, the Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme value stood at N21, 384,443.

“The overall revenue remitted into the Federation accounts is N80, 774,807 during the period under review, while the grand total for both seizure and revenue is N490, 626,431 only,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Controller handed over the 232 parcels of cannabis sativa to the officials of Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Seme.

Shortly before handing over the cannabis, Jibo said it was intercepted along the beach area of the border.

He disclosed that the smugglers were using speed boats to convey the drugs into the country through the waterways when they were intercepted.

Jibo said the command would ensure that they get rid of drugs coming illegally into the country.

Commenting shortly after the handover of the cannabis, Mr Essein Udotong, the Commander, NDLEA, Seme Command, said the country would overcome its security challenges if security operatives cooperate with one another.

He hailed the operatives of the Seme Customs Area command for intercepting the substance.

The commander said the drugs had the ability to cause much damage to smokers if not seized.

Udotong said that the agency would carry out further investigation to find out those involved in smuggling cannabis into the country.

“The cannabis has been handed over to us and we will look for the owners; the present NDLEA has what it takes to arrest the people behind the illicit drug,” he said.

Customs

Customs collects N1.7trn revenue in 8 months

CGC, Ali

–embarks on aggressive revenue hunts to meet target

The Eyewitness reporter

The Nigeria Customs Service has collected a whooping sum of N1,755,386,486,390.02 as revenue in the first eight months of the year spanning January and August.

The service made the highest monthly earnings of N241,903,781,854.46 in August as the service intensifies its aggressive revenue drive to meet the expectations of the Federal Government which has come to rely on the revenue from the service to fund its critical project.

This follows the diversification of government to non-oil sectors and expands its tax base due to the dwindling revenue from the oil sector.

The revenue in the first eight months of 2022 is N363,436,321,614.95 higher than N1,391,950,164,775.97 the customs collected in the corresponding period of 2021.

Abuja has increased its focus on non-oil revenue sources, prompting higher expectations from revenue collection agencies such as the NCS, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), among others.

Customs

Why we adopted direct auction sale for scrap vehicles—-Customs

seized vehicles waiting to be auctioned

The Eyewitness reporter

The Nigeria Customs Service has explained the reason why it recently disposed of scrap vehicles under its control through the direct auction sale method.

In an exclusive interview with our reporter, the National Public Relations Officer (NPRO) of the Service, Deputy Comptroller Timi Bomodi, explained that no sane person could purchase those damaged vehicles for use except those who melt them into metal as raw materials.

” Yes, the vehicles we auctioned through direct sales were all scraps. They are vehicles used by smugglers which are purposely built for their nefarious activities.

“These vehicles are damaged beyond repairs and the service could not upload such vehicles on its auction portal to the general public.

“That was why we sold them directly at very ridiculously low prices to iron smelting companies who will melt them into iron.

“These vehicles litter all our commands in the country and are constituting an environmental nuisance.

“So we needed to evacuate them from those places for the safety of our officers who are constantly being faced with the danger of attacks from snakes and other dangerous reptiles which hide under the cover of these scrap vehicles”, Bomodi declared.

He said his explanation was meant to clarify what he described as false information and misconception being peddled to the public by auctioneers.

The auctioneers have accused the Customs of branding about 6000 seized vehicles as scraps before selling them off at cheap prices to their cronies.

The aggrieved auctioneers have further claimed that the Customs conducted the auction of the vehicles without open competitive bidding as it’s enshrined in the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) Act, 2007.

“So far, about 6,000 vehicles have been sold to their cronies through the so-called direct auction allocation.

“The vehicles, which could have fetched the government huge revenue, were sold as scraps at giveaway prices.

“We all know that it is a ploy to enrich their favoured contractors at the expense of the government.

” The government is being denied the revenue it would have realised from open competitive auctions.

” If this government is serious, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali should be answering tough questions from either the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) or the National Assembly by now,” the Auctioneers claimed.

They further alleged that instead of selling the confiscated goods through public auctions as mandated by the law, the NCS had been selecting the dealers it sells to.

“What the BPP Act says
Section 55 (3) (5) of the BPP Act stipulates that open competitive bidding shall be the primary source of receiving offers for the purchase of any public property offered for sale.

“For the purposes of this Act, public property is defined as resources in the form of tangible and non-tangible assets (ranging from serviceable to the unserviceable).

“According to a letter from the NCS to a company, AMEX West Africa Limited and dated March 25, 2022, with reference number: NCS/ADM/MGT/012/S.2/C, signed by the Chairman, Direct Disposal of Scraps Committee, Comptroller A.D Sanusi, titled, ‘Direct auction allocation of scrap vehicles and other items,’ it was indicated therein that 338 vehicles were sold for N3,380,000 through direct auction allocation in Abuja.

It read, ‘’I am directed to inform you that the Comptroller-General of Customs, acting on the provisions of Customs and Exercise Management (Disposal of goods) Act, CAP C46, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, hereby allocates the under-listed 338 lots of various scrap vehicles domiciled at Katsina State Area Command to your company as auction sales for the purpose of disposal, smelting and fabrication into raw materials for production valued at N3,380,000 only.

“All vehicles disposed of must be evacuated from the premises within 10 working days after payment or risk forfeiture.

” Furthermore, you are to note the following: Application for replacement of allocated vehicles would not be entertained. All allocation letters transferred or sold by the allottee to a third party shall be at the buyer’s risk.’’

However, Bomodi stated that the auctioneers were only being mischievous and clever by half in their claims as the vehicles auctioned through the direct disposal method were actually scraps and not branded as such.

He disclosed that Customs still conducts open bidding auction exercises on its auction portal.

“The last time we conducted the auction of serviceable vehicles on our portal was early this year and another round of the exercise will soon be conducted” he disclosed.

Customs

Anger, frustration among freight forwarders as government increases Customs exchange rate again

CGC, Ali

The Eyewitness reporter

There was a wild wave of anger, despondence and frustration among the freight forwarders Monday as they were slammed with yet another increase in the Customs exchange rate.

Our reporter gathered that Customs brokers woke up Monday to find a new exchange rate on the Customs portal, different from the one left there last Friday.

From the screenshot of the portal shared with our reporter, the rate has been increased from $409 to $422. 3, a difference of $13.

Confirming the increment, Mrs Onome Monije, the Public Relations officer of the Tin Can chapter of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), said the change in the exchange rate was dumped on the agents without any prior notice.

Mrs Monije declared that the increment would automatically lead to higher costs in goods clearance and the value of goods in the market.

While absolving Customs of any blame since “they were merely implementing government fiscal policy as directed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)”, she however appealed to the authority to always give freight forwarders prior notice of such changes.

The ANLCA chieftain admonished her colleagues not to cut corners but intimate their importers of the new development in order to comply with the new changes in the customs exchange rate.

However, there was angst among a cross-section of freight forwarders who expressed frustration and disappointment over the latest increase.

They expressed anger that it has become a normal practice by the government cum Customs to slap such increases on them without prior notice.

They feared that the latest increase will further lead to astronomical increases in the cost of clearance, especially vehicles, which costs, they said, have already been jerked out of reach of average Nigerians.

According to Onome, the increment will result in a minimum of an additional 40,000 on a single small vehicle while it will result in a minimum of N100, 000 or more on a big vehicle whose clearing cost prior to now, is over a million.

She said the additional cost will be graduated depending on the volume of the consignment.

The new change, which has already taken immediate effect, may lead to a momentary delay or sluggishness in clearance procedure as the importers and their agents may have to adjust to the new reality.