The Nigeria Customs Service Kano/Jigawa Area Command has confiscated contraband goods with a duty paid value of over 200 million Naira from January to August 2021.
Deputy Superintendent of Custom Kano/Jigawa Public Relations Officer Lukman Abdullahi Lagos stated this during an exclusive interview with Daily News 24.
Mr Lagos said as an organisation saddled with the responsibility of tackling and stopping smuggling, they have achieved so far in that direction, which led to their recent successes.
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“As a commercial hub of northern Nigeria, Kano is one of the areas that the command is putting much attention to see that consumables goods and other usable goods are coming from the legal way.
“Different seizures include the cooking oil, drugs and sex enhancement ones that are not approved by NAFDAC, foreign spaghetti and rice, tires, foreign soaps, foreign clothes and other forms of food items.
“We tried our best to make sure Kano/Jigawa is free from contraband goods, which some of the seizures were warehoused for permission from the headquarters on the next measures to take”, Mr Lagos said.
The Public Relations Officer Kano/Jigawa Command added that, besides the regular operation of sanitising the two states, the command has been able to generate revenue into the federal government account of over N19 Billion from January to August, through the three functional bounded terminals in the state.
“We must thank our Comptroller Sulaiman Pai Umar because we never recorded such in terms of generations, which he is up and doing in boosting the morale of our officers to do what’s expected of them”.
When asked about the complaints of many Businessmen in the state as regards their operations in markets, DSC Lukman Abdullahi Lagos said Nigerian Custom Service has the legal right to seal, power to patrol freely, to search premises, which if we have genuine information that your warehouse is containing contraband goods, we’ll evacuate such for legal action.
“In a situation like this, the owner must come to the office for investigation, which if happens to be he is free, the warehouse or store will be open, and if it happens it’s a contraband good, then we’ll prosecute the person”.
Customs Public Relations Officer of Kano Jigawa Command said their success is based on the intelligence report from other security agents and other informers of the command.
Lukman Abdullahi, however, called on the good people of Kano and Jigawa to understand the essence of anti-smuggling.
He also noted that smuggling ruins any economy, increases unemployment among the people, and diseases thereby destroying the residents.
“It’s high time for us to be patronizing local goods, because is an opportunity to build our own economy and create more employment especially to the youth”.
“We’re fashion out ways to improve the security, because all the weapons and ammunition that is use in terrorizing some areas are not manufactured here, they were smuggled in way or the other; critically our work is for the betterment of the people and Nigeria”, Lukman Abdullahi Lagos said.
