By Stephen Ubanna
Those who think that Comptroller Dalha Wada Chedi , Area Controller, of Katsina, Command and his officers, may have relaxed in their anti-smuggling operations and revenue generation efforts for the government due to the ongoing electioneering campaigns across the country including President Muhammadu home state, ahead of the 2023, general elections may have to do a rethink.
This is because Compt. Wada and his officers, instead of giving the politicians in the state a soft -landing to go about their Campaign in order to win the heart of their supporters whom sources had said are mostly low profile smugglers, fraudulent importers with their agents, and exporters, appear to have come up harder on them.
This may have forced the smugglers who could no longer bear it to cry out to their political Leaders in their Localities, to call the Customs Comptroller and his officers to order. The dare –devil smugglers, may have expected to use this period of electioneering Campaigns in the state as an opportunity to make bold Statement: smuggle.
The illegal border routes between the two West African countries are too numerous that the Katsina state born Nigerian President , who believes that the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, under the close watch of Hameed Ali, a retired Army Colonel, cannot man the border between the two countries, unless God
Indeed, the deployment of Compt. Wada, to the, Katsina Command, may have changed the story as most of the smugglers and those involved in illegitimate business transactions were said to have been forced to go underground with the Command Contraband seizures increasing on a monthly basis.
Note that Niger Republic, where most of the Contraband intercepted in Nigeria are coming from is a landlocked country that depend on the Benin Republic Autonomous port of Benin, Cotonou and Bollore port, to take delivery of its transit cargoes which are transported by road to the country in Containerised Containers.
The north western state which has numerous border routes with Nigeria cannot be compared to the south west states of Ogun, Lagos, Oyo, Osun and Ekiti, which shares more border routes with Benin Republic, described as home state of foreign par boiled rice, fairly used vehicles, used clothing, which have been banned from coming into the country through land borders by the Nigerian President on January 1, 2017.
Besides, the Border routes with Niger that dotted the nooks and corners of the region, Lagos, the nation’s Commercial Capital also have the ports of Apapa, Tincan Island, Port Multi-services Terminal Limited, PTML, Kiri-Kirikiri Lighter Terminal, phases I and II , Lilipond termina, Ikorodu Lighter terminal and several bonded terminals in the state, thus making the region a home for VIP and petroleum Motor Spirit, PMS, popular, Petrol smugglers.
The daredevil smugglers who were said to have tried to played smart by diverting cargoes meant for the Nigerien market, particular, fairly use vehicles, which they may have succeeded in registering in Nigeria, bags of foreign roiled rice of 50 kg each and other prohibited items regularly lost to ChWada’s men on the road speaks volume . .
Comptroller Wada, may have proved to the smugglers and the fraudulent importers with their agents and exporters that the Command anti-smuggling officers, would always be ahead of them in whatever step that they may want to take to carry out their nefarious activities because of their change of strategy which had been very rewarding.
Addressing the press on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, Comptroller Wada, had said that four suspects were arrested by t the Command anti-smuggling teams were granted Administrative bail in accordance with the Law of the Land, ‘‘pending the conclusion of the investigations on them’’.
He had said that with the intensified anti-smuggling operations by the various anti-smuggling teams, led mostly by Assistant Comptrollers, including one Mohammed Abdullahi, who was at one time, the Head of the Federal Operations Unit, FOU, zone A, Ikeja, Lagos Roving, who was a thorn in the flesh of smugglers in the six south western states, the Command was said to have made a seizure of 11 fairly used vehicles that were said to have been numbered in Nigeria to beat the Customs personnel to it but were not lucky.
One of such intercepted vehicles in the month of November which was showcased to Journalists who were said to have attended the briefing at the Command premises at Katsina, the state Capital, on the invitation of Tahir Balarabe Yususf, a Superintendent of Customs and the Command spokesperson, was a used Lexus Jeep, SUV, with chassis No. JTJBT20X340062590, valued N7.425 million.
Another of such costly intercepted and seized vehicle was a BMW, with Registration No.YAB244 MX.The Duty Paid Value, DPV, of the exotic vehicle, at about N4.1 million. This is in addition to the Asian country of Japan, assembled Toyota Corrola, with Registration No. KAT.584 AR. The DPV, of the Japanese Vehicle was said to have been put at over N3 million.The Customs Comptroller had put the DPV, of the 11, fairly used vehicles intercepted by the Command, within the period under review at N19,245,538.00.
The Customs Comptroller was said to have further disclosed that the Cammander intercepted 239 bags of foreign par boiled rice of 50Kg each, worth about N7.1 million, 70 Cylinders of 50 Kg each of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, valued at about N5.4 million, 65 jerry cans of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, popular, petrol, of 30 litres each valued N394,938.00 and 25 bales of second hand clothing, which valuation experts had put at N1,500,000.00., among others.
The total Value of the merchandidise goods that were said to have been seized by the north western geopolitical region , Customs Command was put at about N20 million, thus bring the total sum of both the seized vehicles and m,merchandise goods at about N40million.
An elated Compt. Wada, had attributed the impressive performance of the Command in the month of November, 2022, ‘‘ to the resilience and commitment of the officers of the Area Command , working with an effective synergy that is existing among the sister agencies’’, and who were said to have shown ‘’exceptional professionalism’’ in the discharge of their duties in line with the extant Laws and regulations of the country.
Appealing to the people of the state to take advantage of the reopened Jibia border between Nigeria and Niger Republic, to conduct their trans-border trade, to avoid running into trouble with his men on the road, he had made it clear that since ‘’the remaining borders in the state have not been reopened for business’’, it is still illegal to use it in ‘’passing or attempting to pass good due the substantive Federal government policy on the border closure’’. It was not surprising why the Command anti- smuggling officers have continued to seize such goods, passing the closed border rorder routes, particular, fairly used vehicles.
Aware that the Yuletide period may provide ample opportunity for the smugglers to intensify their operations in the state, may have informed why Compt. Wada and his Patrol Team, Leaders, have sharpened their intelligence gathering strategy on border security for Legitimate business transactions to thrive in the state as well as enhancing the Command anti-smuggling capabilities in order ‘‘to intercept the smuggled Contraband goods that has continued to pose as a great threat to the economy and security of the country’’.
He has expressed Appreciation to Col. Ali, rtd, the Customs Comptroller General for making their job easy by ‘‘providing most of ‘’the necessary working tools for enhancing their productivity and success of their operations’’.
The reopening of the Jibia border for business transactions, may have exposed the Command to revenue collection for the government, with the blockage of areas of revenue leakage. According to the Customs Compt. The Command collected the sum of N179, 206,288.33, an increase of N58 million from the N121,800,478.00, collected the month of October, described as encouraging by maritime analysts.
