LAGOS AUGUST 24TH (URHOBOTODAY)-The Area Controller of Nigeria Custom Service, Ogun State Command, Multafu Jilantikiri has lamented that the federal government directives which placed embargo on importation of rice through land borders had greatly affected the revenue target of the command.
He further noted that the directive against rice importation through the land borders had given rise to the activities of the smugglers who illegally import the product into the country, using motorcycles to convey them.
He, however, explained that despite the embargo, his command had maintained a steady increase in revenue generation on monthly basis.
The Area Controller for the state command who made the statement on Tuesday at the Command’s Headquarters in Abeokuta , while briefing the media on the activities of his command on the first quarter of the year 2016, however stated that despite the odd, the command generated N2.7bn as against the N2.4bn it collected within the same period last year.
According to him, “The command recorded an increase of N358.7m within the same period. The command is working assiduously towards achieving and even surpassing its monthly revenue target. The aggressive and effective anti-smuggling campaign and strategies the command adopted since January have compelled smugglers to make genuine declaration of imports and subsequent payment of duty.”
He affirmed that in the period under review, the command confiscated no fewer than 108 kilogrammes of cannabis and 170 jerrycans of petroleum products being smuggled out of the country to the Republic of Benin.
He added that smugglers were trying to smuggle the cannabis, concealed in 20 bags, into the country, while they were trying to smuggle the jerry cans of petrol out of the country.
The NCS state boss disclosed that within the first quarter of 2016, 6,705 cartons of frozen poultry products, 8721 bags of rice, 139 used vehicles, 199 motorcycles, 330 jerrycans of vegetable oil, 12 bales and 38 sacks of second-hand clothing were seized from smugglers.
“ Also seized were 996 pieces of second-hand tyres, 80 pieces of teak wood and 1,732 pieces of unprocessed wood,” Jilantikiri said.