Technocrat Media Nigeria
ABUJA – Francis Fadahunsi, Osun East, and vice-chairman senate committee on Customs, Excise, and Tariffs have said the agency should put a stop to raiding markets and car marts across the country.
Fadahunsi, a former custom officer made this comment as contained in a viral video of his committee in a session with the Nigeria Customs.
He said, there are laws and there are laws.
There’s a law of common sense. This time, things are bad in Nigeria.
You were around when I was in charge Customs operations for eight years. We avoided market raid.
You remember because we lost a lot of officers. We made this law 2004 as amended.
We knowingly avoided marketplaces because we’ve entered into problems before. We don’t have enough officers to sacrifice to these people.
Fadaunshi went further to ask the Customs officials;
How do you differentiate between Nigeria made rice and the parboiled imported rice inside the same bag. How do you determine?
You should know that these people are cleverer than you. They buy rice from Katsina and Kebbi and buy empty bags with the inscription – ‘made in China’ ‘made in Thailand’ for them to sell to we.
Since you don’t have the technology to determine this is from Katsina, Katsina or Thailand, automatically you would have sealed off what is not.
You would have invited them with their lawyers to open the warehouses but market is forbidden.
The Senator said, this is 2021, there’s no Customs all over the world carrying guns up and down again.
We want a modern Customs. We want to modernise you. This is why we are voting billions of naira into Customs.
When I was your boss, did you ever saw me raiding Kano market? Even if you told me you want to go, I will tell you not to go because that is the life of the people.
As long as these things had come to them, there’s always another day. They would come through the border again. Wait for them there instead of having all these arguments here and there.
I will send you to your Conel. He should please not waste our officers. The soldiers you are using, we’ve already asked from the GOC, he said he didn’t know anything about it.
You should be able to use your common sense to make our laws effective. If you secure our borders seriously, rice will not come in. You have all the powers. Forty kilometers to the border.
If you don’t have enough officers, we will allow you to recruit even if it’s ten thousand officers.
Stop raiding markets and car marts, please stop it. That’s my own advice. The people whose shops were raided are all poor and trading on loans.
If I hear again that you raid any market, I’m no longer a Customs officer but now a Senator, he said.
This news content remains the copyright of TECHNOCRAT MEDIA, to republish, please seek the consent of our News Editor via editor@technocratmediang.com
