NAN-HE-4
Trade
By Aisha Cole
Lagos, May 12, 2017 (NAN) The Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) says it has taken measures to eliminate all barriers impeding trade facilitation at the nation’s border with its West African neighbours.
The new Customs Area Controller in Seme, Mr Mohammed Aliyu, also said the command would ensure total compliance with the service extant laws while engaging in anti-smuggling operations.
A statement by Taupyen Selchang, the customs spokesman in the area, said Aliyu said this during a recent meeting with officers and men of the command.
To achieve these, the customs boss said that all incoming vehicles, particularly luxury buses, would henceforth be subjected to scanning as being done with trucks and containers.
Aliyu charged the committee on vehicles trapped at the border following Federal Government’s ban on vehicle imports through land borders to properly verify documents and authenticate duty payment before releasing them.
The customs boss, however, described as low the N234.26 million revenue generated by the command in April.
He attributed the low revenue to the persistent low level of economic activities in the country.
The controller also disclosed that two suspects arrested on May 4 for being in possession of suspected hard drugs had been handed over to the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
“The accosted suspects were in possession of four wraps of Indian hemp; a pack of Rizzler; five cartons of Amoria mixture; and three SWAN packets; all suspected to be illicit substances,’’ Alliyu said.
He assured that the customs would continue to exemplify the spirit of synergy and inter-agency co-operation among relevant security agencies at the border.
Aliyu said that the service would continue to perform the statutory role of securing the nation’s busiest land border from trans-border crimes such as smuggling, drug trafficking and human trafficking.
He implored officers and men of the command to ensure that legitimate trade is facilitated to generate maximum revenue in discharging their statutory functions. (NAN)
AIC/AOS/WOJ
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(Edited by Adebayo Sekoni / Wale Ojetimi)