Traders and rights activists accuse Nigeria Customs Service personnel of corruption and extortion. The Service denies the allegations, OKODILI NDIDI reports
Smugglers hate the Customs, naturally. The concern now, though, is that not only smugglers have issues with them; more people seem to be asking questions too these days about their conduct, especially in the Southeast.
Every day, amid media blitz, goods worth millions of naira are impounded by the Nigeria Customs Service in the region and often shown to the public.
But what happens to the seized items? Are they destroyed immediately or stowed away in some warehouse to rot and disposed of? Do they end up in somebody’s house or shared among NCS personnel? Are they sold off, and if so, to whom?
One other question is whether people whose goods are seized are really smugglers or genuine traders? Some of them in the region said they are neither smugglers nor bandits but genuine businessmen who have become victims of bad eggs in the Customs.
The business people are not the only ones worried about the activities of the NCS in the region. A civil rights organisation, the Campaign for Democracy (CD) has urged that Customs officers serving in the Southeast be probed.
The probe call was probably inspired by the recent outcry by traders whose goods were seized.
Following the threat by the traders to embark on a massive protest against the alleged extortion and other corrupt practices perpetrated by the Customs Officers, CD called on President Muhammadu Buhari to overhaul the leadership of the Service in the zone.
The CD in a statement signed by its Southeast chairman Dede Uzor A. Uzor appealed to the President to urgently intervene and save traders further harassment and massive extortion by the Customs officers.
According to the statement, the traders lost over N2 billion in the last four months to extortion and indiscriminate seizure of their goods by the Customs officers who allegedly waylay them at every entry point to the Southeast.
The organisation alleged further that the activities of the Customs officers in the zone were responsible for the continued rise in the prices of essential commodities in the zone, adding that the businessmen are often compelled to inflate the prices as a result of the huge bribe to pay to the Customs personnel at the roadblocks.
“The activities of the men of the Nigeria Customs Service in the Southeast have become an issue of serious concern to the CD given its grave consequences. The rate of extortion of the traders by the Customs Officers is alarming. At every checkpoint which is scattered all over the place, each lorry pays between N20, 000 to N50, 000 depending on the goods they are conveying, even though they have all the requisite papers.
“The most disturbing aspect is the fact that these same goods that were impounded still find their ways to the market because the wives and relatives of these officers own some of the biggest shops in the markets which they stock with the seized products.
“This is not just a mere allegation but a serious issue that should be investigated and those indicted should be punished accordingly. We are urging the President to extend his war against corruption to the Customs Officers serving in the Southeast. He should as a matter urgency set up a task force to monitor their activities.
“The impunity of the officers serving in the Southeast zone cannot be compared to what is obtained in other zones of the country and this explains the high rate of seizure of goods from that zone. Then the question should be why is it that these good are not seized at any other Customs checkpoints until they arrive at the Southeast,” the statement read.
But the Nigeria Customs Service has vowed to sustain the onslaught against the smugglers, irrespective of attempts to blackmail the Officers.
The Public Relations Officer of FOU Zone, C Owerri Onuigbo, Ifeoma, while addressing newsmen, said “sequel to unrelenting onslaught against smuggling, duty evasion and other illegalities by smugglers which is being fought by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone C Owerri, smugglers of fake drugs may have commenced a campaign of falsehood against the Zone.
“They have now resorted to using human rights and faceless groups to attack the zone and allege all sorts of things including compromise against our unit in a recent national publication at a time the unit should be commended for raising the anti-smuggling tempo to a greater height.
“This act is not only illegal but unpatriotic against Nigeria and the new government of President Muhammadu Buhari that has not hidden its determination to stamp out all forms of corruption and fight against all the illegalities that has been drawing the country backward.
“The smugglers and their co-travellers they use in attacking the zone on the pages of newspapers but make their activities suspicious as they have demonstrated a senseless sympathy with economic saboteurs
“For spurious allegations to be churned out against our uncompromising operatives soon after we made 32 seizures with Duty Paid Value of over N814 million last month, the highest so far this year throws a spanner in the will of progress.
“In retrospect, we also arrested 24 suspects in connection with the seizures with 21 cases in courts for the month of September alone. Also last month, we made underpayment recovery of N26, 272,009 into government coffers and therefore should be commended instead of vilified,” she said.
The NCS said their intelligence has revealed that the present desperation is borne out of the smugglers desire to make money from Yuletide sales billed for December.”
She continued that, “We will continue encouraging legitimate trade while frustrating unlawful imports and smuggling. We are not surprised that these wild allegations are coming barely two weeks after we clamped down and stopped some merchants of deaths from bringing fake and deadly drugs into the country.
“We know that criminal cartels must fight back but we know they are fighting a lost battle as we shall continue to interdict, seize prohibited and smuggled goods as well as arrest suspects involved in the acts within the law.
“We find it imperative to educate members of Campaign for Democracy and the public that we implement government extant laws as enshrined in the Customs Excise Management Act (CEMA) and other enabling legislation.
“We are not and will never be open for any form of dialogue to compromise our statutory duties. We advise Campaign for Democracy to visit our warehouse and show proof of any seizure wrongly made by presenting evidences of genuine duty payments.
“We also advise them to show to the public, the shops where customs operatives stock or put for sale seized goods.
“On the allegations of official misconduct by our patrol teams, the human right group may further avail us with information to enable the Customs Area Controller, Dimka Victor David to investigate and bring to book any erring officer aiding and abating unlawful activities.
