Over 50 per cent of imports coming into Nigerian ports are falsely declared by importers and agents.
This was made known by the Service’s Commandant, Customs Training College, Ikeja, Comptroller Sarkin Kebbi, at a two-day training workshop organised for maritime journalists on Tuesday.
The training which held in Lagos, was tagged: “Responsible Report of Customs Operations: Imperative for National Security and Economy.”
According to the command, the cargoes were involved in various trade infractions such as false declaration, under invoicing, under declaration and concealment.
Kebbi stated that the job of NCS was to foster trade and security. However, he explained that customs could only facilitate trade when importers are compliant to trade regulations.
He said: “When these infractions are discovered, Section 46 of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) says those goods should be liable for forfeiture and the person that is found guilty should spend five years in jail.
“If we are to go by what the law says, a lot of goods will be seized. But journalist may not know this and if customs decide to seize all these goods, there will be commotion in the port and the report will always be customs is creating problems and not facilitating trade.
“We can only facilitate trade to somebody that is compliant. So we urge journalists to be knowledgeable on customs procedures and processes.”
Sarkin Kebbi advised journalists to keep themselves informed with issues concerning the service in order to ensure fairness and balance in their reportage of customs operations.
