- Service says it’s reviewing its enforcement strategies
- Says severe penalties await violators of the recently passed legislation.
The Acting Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Adewale Adeniyi, says the agency will continue to hound and hunt down oil thieves.
Adeniyi said smuggling of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol at Nigeria’s border stations still persists despite the removal of subsidy on the commodity.
Adeniyi said the agency had deployed new border patrol tactics to clampdown on oil thieves, noting that the nation cannot “afford to let saboteurs take over our economy.”
He spoke on the sidelines of a sensitisation workshop on the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023 for management staff of the NCS in Abuja.
Adeniyi spoke as the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited on Monday said it intercepted a suspected Cameroon-bound vessel with a cargo of crude oil on board.
Recall that President Bola Tinubu announced the end of the petrol subsidy during his inaugural address on May 29, 2023, after the Federal Government had kept subsidising the product for several decades, spending trillions of naira in the process.
But the Customs CG revealed on Monday that smuggling had reduced but it had not stopped in some border stations.
To this end, he said the agency was reviewing its enforcement strategies, adding that based on the new Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023, there would be heavy penalties against violators of the recently passed legislation.
On whether petrol was still being smuggled out of Nigeria after the removal of subsidy on the commodity, he said, “We still have some incidences in some border stations.
“The rate has reduced and we are going to be watching the situation very closely. The situation of fuel is very sensitive and we cannot afford to let the saboteurs take over our economy.”
Commenting on plans by the service to review policies that constitute obstacles to trade, Adeniyi said this had to do with the enforcement strategies of the NCS, as well as its procedures and processes at the ports.
“One of the things that I intend to do as we start is that we need to take a look at our procedures and processes in the ports and border areas. Also, our enforcement strategies. We are going to review all that.
“And we want to do them in such a way that they promote user-friendliness and economic growth without compromising our national security. We will get details when we unfold the plans,” Adeniyi stated.
He said the new legislation of the service would impose heavy sanctions and penalties on violators of customs laws.
“We discovered that the previous legislation did not provide sanctions that are punitive enough for violations of customs laws. Some of the fines were ridiculous. Remember that this (old) piece of legislation was put in place in 1958.
“You won’t believe that in some parts of the legislation, some fines were written on pennies, and when you translate them they mean nothing. So criminals are always willing to commit fraud because they know that they are only going to get a slap on the wrist.
“So what this new law has brought are very heavy punitive sanctions that should deter people from committing those violations against the customs law,” the NCS boss stated.