By Stephen Ubanna
When President Muhammadu Buhammadu Buhari, banned the importation of Foreign rice and vehicles, into the country through the Land border on January 1, 2017, smugglers laughed over it on the grounds that that the policy will not work. They got it wrong.
This is because the Federal Operations Unit Ikeja, Lagos,, FOU,, Zone A, and other Interventionist Units across the country through their aggressive anti-smuggling drive along the border areas may have sent a message to the smugglers that it is no longer going to be business as usual. Between 2018 and now, the FOU, zone A, anti-smuggling officers, given the logistics support from Hameed Ali , the Customs Comptroler Geneal, has not limited their Operations to the border areas alone but had move a step further to sanitise the Lagos seaports.
Acting Comptroller Kehinde Hussain Ejibunu, the Area Controller of FOU, Zone A, and his men may have sent a message to the Fraudulent importers with their agents at the the Lagis ports of Apapa, Tin can Island, Port Multi-services Terminal Limited, PTML and Kirikiri Lighter Terminal, phases I and II and the smugglers operating in the south western tern states of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti and Ondo, that no part of the region will be safe for their illegitimate business any longer.
The Federal government inclusion of more items on the import Prohibition list in the 2022 Fiscal policy measures, may have brought out the best in Acting Comptroller Ejibunu and his men s they had taken the anti-smugling war to the Lagos Ports, making recovering of millions of lost government revenue and taking the war to the smugglers hide out in the Land border areas in the region making spectacular Contrabnd seizures.
As a prelude to sanitizing the Lagos eaport and its environs to ensure that the right thing is done in terms payment of correct duties, Acting Ejibunu , was said to have engaged the services of informants and made other contacts at the ports who were ever ready to volunteer information on bad jobs released or in the process of being released . The Customs Acting Comptroller, in turn was said to have passed such information to the Head of Operations and Lagos Roving whose men are stationed at strategic Locations around the port environment.
Note that the Unit on the Unit Patrol Teams were said to have also cultivated their own contact which was helping them on their job.The Interception of some Containers load of goods released from the Lagos ports and transferred to the Command premises which were re-examined and revalued between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022, speaks volume.
The FOU, Zone A, Customs Comptroller had taken Journalists on a guided tour of the Command Engineering Workshop, on Wednesday, January 4, 20223 to showcase some of the intercepted and seized Containers and their contents which was an indictment on the Area Controllers overseeing the Lagos seaports and their releasing officers.
Given an insider information, he disclosed that the Command had recovered N878,344,486.96, from the re-examined Container loads goods released from the ports which fell into the waiting hands of the Command Operations and Lagos Roving Patrol Teams Patrol Team officers on the road and transferred to the its premises . The lost revenue was said to have been recovered through the issuance of Demand Notice, DN to the guilty importer through his or her agent.
Maritim analysts believes that but for the Intervention of the FOU, Zone A, Patrol Team officer who re on the road for the usual routine checks, the huge amount could have entered into private pockets last year. Acting Comptroller Ejibunu was emphatic on this, ‘’this collected revenue would have been lost but for the intervention and routine checks to ensure that appropriate duties were paid into government coffers’’.
Many see the recovery of the huge amount by the FOU, Zone A, Command which is not a revenue generating Command, but basically an anti-smuggling Unit as a welcome development where several bonded terminals are located in different parts of Lagos state and should further encourage the Ali, the Customs Comptroller General to give more logistic support to the Command to reach out to more areas, in Lagos state particular, the difficult terrains.
There is no gain saying the fact that the amount recovered are just from the few Containers the Command Patrol Teams could intercept on the road, and tens of such Containers that the Comptroller General o Customs, CGC, Strike Force, Lagos zonal office, under the close watch of Mohammed Yusuf, a deputy Comptroller, men on the road and seizures by Customs other Interventionist Units within the Lagos axis.
While the FOU, zone A, Patrol Team officers have remained a thorn on the flesh of the fraudulent importers with their agents within the Lagos ports axis, those engaged in Legitimate trade smiles to the bank as their Containers are never harassed on the road. According to informed sources the Command Patrol Team officers know such importers with their agents.
The Customs Comptroller said that much. ‘’We provided support for facilitation of legitimate trade, by ensuring ease passage for compliant traders’’. Informed sources told The Value News that he Fraud committed by the importers with their agents at the Lagos ports may been reduced as the Command provides escort services for cargoes under bond to their destination across the country’’ to avoid diversion .
We now turn to the Commmand anti-smuggling operations at the border Area Areas in the in Lagos, Ogun, Former President Olusegun Obasanjo home state, where there are over 140 illegal border routes used by smugglers to carry out their nefarious activities, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and ondo states within the year under review.
Acting Comptroller Ejibunu had said that they ‘’prosecuted their core mandate of anti-smuggling without fear in the six south western states ‘’. He noted that even in face of resistance and attacks and tricks in the mode of Concealments, they never bothered as they still carried out their assignment
Maritime Analysts averred that FOU, zone A, Customs boss and his men could make appreciable impact around the Land border areas in the south west geopolitical region because they have made contacts who are feeding them with information, about ‘’smugglers movement from time to time which was used in check mating the criminal elements’’.
Indeed, some of the smugglers, according to informed sources on sighting the Command anti-smuggling officers were said to have abandoned their goods and took to the bush to escape arrest. Those who have dared the Customs Interventionist Unit anti-smuggling officers would never forget their experience in a hurry.
This is evident going the Command seizure of 93,102 bags of Foreign par boiled and the Asian country of India produced Agricultural rice of 50 Kg each, equivalent of 1156 truck load of rice .
The intercepted thousands bag of 50Kg each of foreign rice were said to have been deposited Old Government Warehouse within the Ikeja premises and the newly constructed one by Ali, a the Customs Comptroller General. Ejibunu had said that even in the new Warehouse, ‘’there is an overflow of seized foreign rice’’, meaning that the anti-smuggling Officers Patrol Teams are churning out seized bags from their various locations virtually on a daily basis.
He had said that the Command also intercepted and seized 108 automobiles comprising of trucks, tankers, cars including motorcycles which were used as means of conveyance the seized prohibited smuggled items. He may have shocked Nigerians when he said the Command intercepted 656,414 litres about 20 Tanker load of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, popular, petrol, from the economic saboteurs in 2022, alone. He had put the Cumulative value of the of the total seized Contraband by the Command last year at about N14 billion including used clothing and tyres.
Given the unflinching support of the Customs Comptroller General to the Command’s anti- smuggling operations last year and the previous years that had resulted in making spectacular seizures many have informed why the FOU, Zone A, Acting Area Controller had declared that ‘’, for 2023, which is the election year in the country, the Command will do everything possible ‘’to sustain and increase the tempo of its anti-smuggling operations , ensuring zero promise as usual, arresting an seizing the smugglers’ wares’’.
Apealing o to the smugglers and their Collaborators to turn a new leaf and embrace Legitimate trade as a means of livelihood, he had made it clear that the Unit ‘‘will make life unbearable for them through interdictions, arrests, seizures and diligent prosecution if they fail to change for good’’.
Recall that in the year under review,, the Command had arrested 176 suspected smugglers charged 14 to Court and secured seven convictions. The Customs Comptroller had confirmed that the 14 suspects charged to Court are at various stages of Investigation and prosecution while of the suspects are still in detention. He had said that 10 of the arrested suspected smugglers were granted Administrative bail.
Given the synergy between the various security agencies, the Command was said to have handed over to the Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa, led Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA , two of the arrested suspected smuggler. The arrested suspects may not be unconnected to seizure of the smuggled Ghana grown Cannabis Sativa popular Indian Hemp and packs of Tramadol of various milligrams smuggled into the country. One of the suspects was said to have been handed to the Usman Alkali Baba led Nigerian Police Force over undisclosed offence.
