Ban on importation of vehicles from land border will curb small arms smuggling

The Comptroller-General (C-G) of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) said that the ban of importation of vehicles through the nation’s land borders was specifically meant to stop illegal arms smuggling into the country.

He made the disclosure while fielding questions from journalists after the International Customs Day celebrations at the service’s Staff and Command College in Gwagwalada, Abuja.

Asked to assess the implementation of the policy which became effective at the beginning of this year, Col. Alli said, “ In terms of what we have achieved so far, we are grateful. I think it is coming up very well. We are just about 26 days into it. It will take some time to have these things driven into our stakeholders.

“But the actual fact is that we want to boost the economy of this great nation.. we want to bring back the money that is being exported to other countries back into this nation.

“Most especially, we want to tighten the security of this great country. We have discovered that through the importation of vehicles through the land borders arms are smuggled into the country. We cannot allow that. Apart from the economic aspect of it, I think security is fundamentally the reason behind what we are doing with regard to that policy.”

Speaking on the theme “Effective Data Analysis For Effective Border Management” the CGC said that the automated process was now very useful for a national data bank.

He said, “In line with the present Federal Government change mantra and the need to eliminate vices that impede development, NCS automated process is fast turning the Service into a dependable data-bank for National planning.

“Apart from providing a platform for synergy among Security and Regulatory Agencies in Nigeria, data generated and analysized from our ICT platform is beneficial to the service as it helps to measure performance and improve practice and integrity of the process. This can also improve revenue collection, trade facilitation and border security.”

He added that as part of the ongoing reforms and restructuring, the organization would continue to make data analysis a strategic priority, by acquiring cutting edge technology to strengthen the automation process.

“At this juncture it is imperative to call on our stakeholders to pay more attention to the provision of quality data, as it forms the bases for analysis that directs operational decisions. False declaration, under or over valuation, concealment etc affects the integrity of any data with negative consequences on the economy and National Security,” he said.

In her remarks, the Minister of finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, charged the NCS to take advantage of effective data gathering and analysis to check revenue leakages and increase its performance in line with the aspirations of the current administration.

Represented by the Director, Technical Services, Hajia Lare Shaibu, the minister disclosed that work was at advanced stage towards establishing a Single Window of data platform which would be accessible to all federal government agencies.

When operational, she said, the challenges of data sharing among the agencies would be a thing of the past.