Customs Rakes in N5.32bn from Ogun Command

Comptroller-General of Customs, Inde  Dikko Abdullahi

John Iwori

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS)’s efforts to curtail the activities of smugglers have started yielding results as it collected N5.32 billion from the Ogun State Command in 2012. The amount is N1.7 billion more than what it collected in 2011.

The Customs Area Controller (CAC), Ogun State Command, Comptroller Ade Dosunmu, who disclosed this in a chat with journalists at Nigeria’s border post with the Republic of Benin, Idiroko, said the command achieved the feat despite all odds, particularly the campaign against smugglers.

He attributed the strides made by the command last year to the overwhelming support from the neighbouring communities.

The CAC also revealed that the command earned N568.4 million in January 2013 as against N381.8 million recorded in the same period last year. He described the strides made by the command as “unprecedented” in the history of the command, despite being the most volatile and crisis-prone border area in the country.

He disclosed that a total of 1,084 seizures with duty paid value (DPV) of N694 million were also recorded last year. The goods seized, according to him included, “Vehicles, Rice, Frozen Poultry products, 2nd hand shoes and clothes, textile materials, premium motor spirit (PMS), cannabis sativa, vegetable oil and a bulldozer excavator.

“Since September 5, 2012 when I assumed office as the Area Controller of this Command, I was able to connect and partner the traditional institutions, youths and community leaders of the border communities.

“These relations have been so well-managed that they paid off. The incidences of attacks on officers by smugglers and youths from these communities have drastically reduced because youths of these communities have become informants to our operation officers. This has boosted our revenue collection occasioned by the intensified anti-smuggling campaign”.

The Customs Chief enjoined smugglers to invest their energy and money in legitimate businesses rather than continuing in illegitimate trade. According to him, NCS has facilitated the operation of Free Trade Zones (FTZs) in the state which was capable of producing over 5,000 jobs.
He said the command has embarked on anti-smuggling campaign to take the smugglers out of the illegitimate business, adding that, efforts were on to partner the community to achieving a smuggling free environment.

“Most of the smugglers have complained of unemployment as reason why they venture into the business. Their complaint is that they have no other job other than to go into smuggling and I told them we have free trade zone. Customs has been able to facilitate the establishment and operation of a free trade zone”, he said.

The Customs Chief disclosed that the command has also signed an understanding with Dangote Cement to export over 50 trailers of cement every week into the neighbouring Benin Republic, adding that, this alone would further generate employment and income to the country.

He said the command is in talk with the community leaders around the border towns in order to acquire land for agriculture to further generate legitimate business for the teeming youths. “We want to go into agriculture. If we are talking of generating employment, we did what we can to ensure that we persuade them into compliant trading and they are yielding.”
According to him, as part of his plan to improve the welfare of its men and officers, the command has embarked on infrastructural development in the command