Border drill operations won’t cripple legitimate businesses –Customs

The Nigerian Customs Service has declared that its ongoing joint border drill operations across the country will not cripple those dealing in legitimate business even as it seized N10,201 bags of foreign rice.

The coordinator, Joint Border Operations Drill, North-central states, Comptroller Mohammed Garba, gave the assurance while speaking with journalists in Ilorinduring the parade of seized goods and items.

He also said the service had written to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to determine whether some or all of the seized rice in its warehouse were locally produced or imported ones.

Garba said the partial closure of the nation’s land border “is now paying off as the Nigeria Customs Service now rakes in between N5 and N7 billion daily since the commencement of the operations in August 2019.”

The North-central joint border drill operations sector comprises Kwara, Kogi, Niger and Benue,states and is being jointly carried out by operatives of the Nigeria police force, department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Air Force, Army, Office of the National Intelligence Agency.

While seeking the understanding ofNigerians on the federal government policy, he said the agency “will always consider people doing their genuine businesses.”

He said part of the measure taken by the agency to ensure that people doing their genuine businesses were protected was the letter written to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to determine whether the sized rice were locally produced or imported as being claimed by some persons .

The customs boss said “if it is established that they were locally produced, they would be released to their owners.”

Similarly, the coordinator said impounded vehicles conveying the sized items and their owners would also be investigated and where they were not found culpable they would be released.

Garba also said the service would “sensitise members of various transport unions to desist from carrying goods being imported into the country.”

Leave a Reply