Steve Agbota
The Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANCLA) has pleaded with the Federal Government to urgently clear 735 trucks loaded with perishable goods now stranded at Seme.
Mr Bisiriyu Fanu, Seme border Chapter Chairman of ANLCA, made the appeal in an interview on Monday in Seme since August 20.
President Muhammadu Buhari had said at the Seventh Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD7), in Yokohama, Japan that the partial border closure was because of the massive smuggling activities, especially of rice on that corridor.
Fanu said that each of the trucks was carrying over N20 million worth of goods and if not released would amount to loss of billions of revenue. “The importers are not aware of the government policy of border closure and their goods are not illegal.
“Some of the perishable goods have expiring date. If the trucks are not released on time, customers might not buy from the market because the date of expiration will have been closer.
“Presently, we have 403 trucks of goods in the park while 332 are inside the border post bringing it to 735 trucks,’’ he said.
He said that the platform should be created at the border posts and not only in Seme but throughout the land borders in Nigeria.
“All security operatives should be involved in checking the trucks and only trucks with genuine documents should be allowed into the country.
“This will enable importers that borrowed money from banks for the business to repay so that debit interest will not throw them out of business,’’ he said.
The exercise commenced on August 19 and was jointly conducted by the customs, immigration, police and military personnel, coordinated by the Office of the National Security Adviser.
Meanwhile, in continuation of its war against smuggling and the restriction of movement through the land borders in some geo political zones, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in a major crackdown over the weekend shutdown some car marts suspected to have smuggle vehicles into the country through the land borders. It was gathered yesterday that members of the Comptroller General of Customs strike force and officers attached to the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone ‘A’, Ikeja stormed Ikeja, Oregun and the popular Berger along Apapa-Oshodi Express Road and other major car dealers’ premises across Lagos in search of smuggled vehicles and subsequently shut them down until further notice.
It was further learnt that the car marts were closed on the orders of the Comptroller General of the Service, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) for allegedly retailing smuggled vehicles in the shops.