… Pledges to Combat Smuggling at Seme Border

Eromosele Abiodun

The Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has pledged to sustain its anti-smuggling activities along Seme border with a view to enhancing government revenue.

The Customs Area Comptroller, Compt. Mohammed, Aliyu who stated this in a chat with journalists said the command has in recent times engaged in a renewed effort of aggressive anti-smuggling operation by tightening the land border against smuggling activities.

According to him, the command is deploying all necessary tools to ensure that the core mandate of the Service is achieved. “This is because actualising the functions of revenue generation and legitimate trade facilitation depends solely on how smuggling activities are aggressively suppressed to the barest minimum.

“It is against this backdrop that the anti-smuggling unit of the command has intensified its operations in order to curb the menace of trans-border crimes (smuggling) and other vices.

“The ongoing aggressive patrol by the anti-smuggling operation unit of illegal routes and flanks of the border is yielding tremendous results, and has translated into the seizure of numerous items,” he said. Combating smuggling, he noted, is a major responsibility that the Nigeria Customs Service is saddled with, and as such, compliance with Government fiscal policies is not an option to an institution that is bestowed with such enormous responsibilities.

Furthermore, he said that officers are adequately motivated and re-oriented to execute their functions creditably and discretionally without compromise.

Aliyu reiterated that in order to key into the presidential mandate (reform, restructure and revenue generation), smuggling activities have to be confronted headlong in order to prevent revenue leakages.

“This reality has necessitated the proactive approach of the enforcement unit to ensure smuggling activities is maximally suppressed in order to enhance and boost revenue generation,” he stated.

The Command’s helmsman, while showcasing the seizures made, charged all officers and men to maintain the tempo in combating smuggling activities across the frontier.