Musa Maigari Mohammed,.an Assistant Superintendent.of Nigerian Customs Service is.currently battling with life at the National Orthopedic Hospital Lagos. 

Musa  was brutally injured with machetes by suspected smugglers in Ogun State, with his left wrist almost cut off in addition to another very deep cut a little below his shoulder by same left hand.

He was part of a joint patrol team of officers drawn from the Ogun Command and Federal Operations Unit roving around Ibeji River,Idogo Ifoyintedo axis that were ambushed at about 9am on Wednesday.

His attackers were resisting the seizure of a Toyota Highlander with chassis number STDJKRFHES059484. While other officers sustained various degrees of injuries, Mohammed was not too lucky.

The vehicles was successfully seized and driven to the Ogun Customs Sentry office in Idiroko .

 Public Relations Officer for Ogun Command, Abdullahi Maiwada confirmed the incident and disclosed that efforts are being made to save the life of the injured officer while moves are on to arrest the attackers .

The Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in its intensified operational modalities to nip smuggling tactics in the bud has intercepted  items worth N1.6 billion due to various infractions within the month of January, 2018.

It added that it collected the sum of N91.366 million from under payment within the period making the cumulative of N1.709 billion.

 The items seized are 31 exotic cars, mostly 2017 models which include four Rolls Royce, 1 Porche Panamera, 1 Jaguar, 1 Bentley, 2 Lexus jeep, 2G Wagon, 1Toyota Land Cruiser, 5 Toyota Corolla, 7 Mercedes Benz among others .

According to the Unit  Controller, Comptroller   Uba Garba Mohammed, the Duty Paid Value of the vehicles is worth N1,429,953,941.50 only.

Some of the cars,  Uba said were intercepted along Ijebu Ode road while  others were were evacuated at various raid in Parkview Estate,  Victoria Island,  Banana island,  Alhaji Bankole Crescent in Ikeja and Tola  Adewunmi street in Maryland as empowered by section 147 of CEMA Cap 45 laws of the federation of Nigeria. 

Other items seized within the period are; 8,400 bags of foreign parboiled rice with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N1,429,953,941.50; 835 jerry cans of vegetable oil with dpv of N4,063,500.

Ten sacks bags of Indian Hemp, 2,208 pieces of used tyres, 159 bales of used clothing, imported used compressors all with dpv of N23,608,200.

He added that a 1×20 feet containers were nabbed for false declaration saying the container was carrying 537 cartons of Indian Whisky declared as yeast.

Another 1×40 container was seized for carrying 60 pieces if used Chest freezers and 570 bundles of gas hose as against condenser for steam polysonic amounting to false declaration.

Uba however urged the owners of the vehicles to come forward with valid customs clearance documents, failure of  which he said the cars would be liable to seizure.

In his words “we urge the owners of these vehicles to come forward with valid Customs clearance documents otherwise they will be liable to seizure and subsequent forfeiture to the Federal Government in line with laws of the land”

“For the avoidance of doubt, our action is in line with the provisions of sections 147.of Customs Excise Management Act (CEMA) Cap 45, laws of the Federation in Nigeria 2004 gives power to search premises, while section 158 gives power to patrol freely. he added. 

He however appeal to smugglers to desist from their  nefarious  activities  or face the fire power of the customs. Uba said “Let me seize this opportunity to warn all would-be smugglers to desist from any act of illegal trade and invest their money in a legitimate business that will yield dividend on their investments.

” There is no amount of resistance from the smugglers and their mob accomplices that will deter us from performing our statutory responsibilities in all aspects especially in suppression of smuggling within southwest zone,” he warned.

 Ms Hadiza Bala Usman, Managing Director Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA)  has made known the intentions of the management in  improving the present state of infrastructure to meet world class standards towards ensuring the swift evacuation of cargo from the seaports across the country to the hinterlands through the rail lines.

According to her, Management was fully aware of the state of congestion in the Ports caused by the bad roads within the Port axis. This she regretted has led to a reduction in revenue accruable to the Organisation as well as the inability of the nation to maximize her potential as a major player in the Maritime sector within the Sub-Saharan Africa.

Hadiza who was represented by the General Manager MD’s Office, Captain Iheanacho Ebubeogu made these remarks while on a facility maintenance inspection of the state of the rail lines in the Ports accompanied by the top echelon of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC,  led by its Director Of Operations Niyi Alli to Terminals within the Apapa corridor over the weekend.

“management would collaborate and improve on the existing synergy with the NRC at addressing the challenges facing the corporation with a view to increasing the market size of the country in the area of cargo evacuation ” he said.

Responding to questions after the inspection tour, the Director Operations, Nigerian Railway Corporation [NRC] Mr Niyi Alli who stood in for the Managing Director of the Corporation Mr Fidet Okhiria stated that the working visit was to assess the present state of the rail lines in order to further collaborate with the NPA in the area of rehabilitation.

According to Alli, the rail service would be optimally utilized for Cargo evacuation in line with the Federal Government’s policy of Ease of Doing Business in the country. He stated that plans are being concluded by putting into operation

between 15- 20 Locomotive Wagons with each evacuating 20 units of 40 footer containers at a go from the Terminals to the hinterland.

Honorable Minister of Transportation Rt Hon Chibuike Amaechi, recently set up a Committee comprising the Managing Directors of NPA and NRC as well as their top echelon to carry out on the spot assessment of the present state of infrastructure of the rail lines in the Terminals.

The rehabilitation work and collaboration between the NPA and the NRC would ensure swifter evacuation of Cargoes from the Sea Ports.

There has been a  change in the leadership of  Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government Owned Companies (SSASCGOC)  Maritime Branch, as the union now  has Comrade Adamu Ya’u as its new president general.

Comrade Ya’u took over from Comrade Benson Adedoyin Adegbeyeni who last week retired from active service from the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) .

Ya’u who served in the capacity of deputy president general of the union before taking over as the new President General said that the Adegbeyeni administration was supposed to end in October  2018 but  due to his retirement from active service, he had to hand  over the baton of leadership to him.

During the handing over ceremony, Ya’ u assured members of the union that he will continue from where his predecessor left off in ensuring progress for all.