The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has intercepted 56 containers containing goods valued at N5.53bn at the Port Harcourt Area II Command in Onne, Rivers State.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this on Tuesday during a briefing and inspection of the seized consignments at Onne Wharf.
The containers contained 45 containers of vegetable oil, nine 40-foot containers of used clothing and two 20-foot containers of foreign tomato paste.
According to Adeniyi, the vegetable oil alone had a duty-paid value of N4.25bn, while the used clothing was valued at N1.045bn and the tomato paste at N232m.
He said the consignments were falsely declared as machinery and spare parts and imported through the Onne Free Trade Zone.
Adeniyi said the seizures followed intelligence gathering and risk-based profiling of importers operating through free trade zones, which revealed what he described as an abuse of concessions granted to zone operators.
He explained that the Federal Government established free zones and other special economic zones to promote local production, exports and domestic manufacturing, while granting operators incentives, including duty-free importation of plants, raw materials and machinery.
However, the Customs chief said some importers had exploited the concessions by bringing restricted goods into the country under the cover of free zone operations and subsequently diverting them into the domestic market.
He said 45 containers of Delicious Pur vegetable oil, each containing 1,050 25-litre jerry cans, were discovered during physical examination after they had been declared as machinery and spare parts.
“The remarkable thing about these containers is that they were declared as machinery and spare parts. When we discovered them during physical examination, we found vegetable oil,” Adeniyi said.
He added that the circumstances surrounding the consignments suggested that the goods were intended for the local market rather than for manufacturing activities within a free trade zone.
The CG said the importation of the vegetable oil and used clothing contravened Sections 55 and 233 of the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023.
He warned that the Service would continue to scrutinise consignments passing through free zones and other economic zones to prevent the abuse of government incentives.
Adeniyi said the owners of the seized consignments would be prosecuted after the completion of investigations.
He said the seizures were necessary to protect government revenue, safeguard public health, support local manufacturers and farmers, and prevent activities capable of undermining national security.
“Importing consignments that violate existing restrictions or involve false declarations, as we have seen in this particular case, can have serious consequences for the Nigerian economy and Nigerian security,” he said.
The Customs boss commended officers of the Port Harcourt Area II Command for their vigilance and urged them to sustain their efforts against smuggling, false declaration and diversion of consignments.
Customs renovates Rivers health centre
Meanwhile, Adeniyi has inaugurated the reconstructed Ebubu Health Centre in Ebubu, Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The facility was renovated by the Port Harcourt Area II Command under the Customs Service's Corporate Social Responsibility programme.
At the inauguration on Tuesday, Adeniyi commended the Area II Controller, Aliyu Alkali, for implementing the directive that Customs commands should undertake projects that benefit communities within their areas of operation.
He said the intervention was consistent with the NCS's Customs Care initiative, through which the Service had supported healthcare, education and other community development projects across the country.
Adeniyi urged residents of Ebubu to take ownership of the renovated facility and protect it against vandalism.
Alkali said the health centre had previously been abandoned and that some of its equipment had been looted before the Customs intervention.
He said the renovation would help reduce the difficulties faced by residents seeking healthcare services and underscored the Command's commitment to supporting communities within its operational jurisdiction.
The Director of Medical Services, Rivers State Primary Healthcare Management Board, Dr Tonye Lawson-Jack, thanked the Customs Service for renovating and upgrading the facility.
Lawson-Jack assured residents that the board had deployed adequate manpower to provide healthcare services at the centre.
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