The Nigeria Customs Service, (NCS) has seized 56 containers laden with vegetable oil, assorted used clothing and tomato paste with a total Duty Paid Value of over N5.53 billion at the Onne Port, Rivers State for floating concession directives.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, who disclosed this while speaking with newsmen in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, said the 56 containers including 45 containing over 1.1million litres of vegetable oil, 9 containing assorted clothings and two with tomatoes pastes, were earlier declared as plants, spare parts, and machineries by the importers.
He said the seizures were made following an intelligence-driven review of operations involving cargoes destined for Free Trade Zones in the country.
He said the service discovered a flagrant abuse of incentives and waivers granted by the Federal Government to operators in Special Economic Zones and Free Trade Zones to encourage local production and exports.
He said: ‘We have come to undertake a review of our operations to ensure that our quest to facilitate trade is not exploited to inflict damage to the local economy.
‘As we facilitate trade and ensure prompt clearance of imported goods through our ports, we must also ensure that local producers of the same products get justice,’ Adeniyi said.
According to him, the Federal Government allows operators in free zones to import raw materials, plants and machinery duty-free, and in some cases, goods under import prohibition, but investigations show the concessions are being abused.
He said the Onne Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, through risk-based profiling, discovered that importers operating in free zones had imported 45 containers of vegetable oil branded ‘Delicious and Poor’ brand.
He said each of the 45 containers contained 1,050 jerry cans of 25 litres each, totaling over 1.1 million litres of vegetable oil with a Duty Paid Value of N4,252,500,000.
In addition, nine 40-footer containers of used clothing valued at N1,045,580,000 and two 20-footer containers of foreign tomato paste valued at N232,000,000 were also intercepted, bringing the total to 56 containers valued at N5,530,080,000.
Adeniyi explained that the 56 containers were falsely declared as machinery, plants and spare parts with the intention of diverting them into the local market instead of taking them to the free zones for manufacturing activities.
‘The remarkable thing about these containers is that they were declared as machinery and spare parts. When we discovered them during physical examination, we discovered they were vegetable oil and it is obvious that the intention of the importer is not to take them to free trade zones for any manufacturing activities, but to introduce them into our local markets,’ he said.
He recalled that less than a month ago, the Cross River/Akwa Ibom Command seized two 40-footer containers of vegetable oil destined for the Calabar Free Trade Zone which were being diverted, while records showed about 40 other containers of vegetable oil had earlier been taken into the Calabar Free Trade Zone.
He said: ‘These 56 containers were seized because they were imported in contravention of Sections 55 and 233 of the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023.
‘We are going to initiate court processes leading to condemnation and final forfeiture. Number three, all those involved, whether importers, agents, shipping companies, I have directed our legal unit to initiate their prosecution.
‘Number four, we will undertake a comprehensive audit of all containers whose customs processes were suspended and moved to Tinapa Free Trade Zone. Until all transferred containers are properly accounted for, no further transfer of containers to Tinapa Free Trade Zone will be allowed.’
The Customs Comptroller-General also commissioned a reconstructed Primary Healthcare Centre in Ebubu, Eleme local government area of Rivers State, built by the Port Harcourt Area II Command, Onne, describing it as a milestone in the transformation of the NCS into a modern, professional and responsive institution.