By Godfrey Bivbere & Mercy Opara

Customs Area Controller, CAC of Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone A, Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Hussein Ejubunu, has warned against the importation and use of ‘used clothes’, especially with the outbreak of Monkeypox in the country.

Speaking at a press briefing in Lagos, the Customs boss explained that the world is wary of monkey pox whose mode of transmission includes clothing. Ejibunu also pointed out that smuggling of used clothes has economic and health implications on Nigerians.

He said the massive discovery of bales of 1,955 bales of used clothing in an abandoned building around the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex. We made the discovery and evacuation using combined strategies of intelligence, tact and enforcement.

He also noted that serious health implication associated with the use of such clothing exposes users to skin diseases like scabies, as well as fungal diseases which can be transmitted by wearing unwashed second-hand clothes.

Used clothing in commercial quantity falls under absolute prohibition. They have been seized and we are on the trail of the smugglers to get them arrested.

 According to him, “The very serious health implication of this act of textile smuggling is exposure of users to skin diseases like scabies and fungal diseases which can be transmitted by wearing unwashed second-hand clothes.

“This is coming at a time when the world is wary of monkey pox whose mode of transmission includes clothing. According to a World Health Organization fact-sheet, “Monkeypox” is transmitted to humans through close contact with an infected person or animal, or with material contaminated with the virus.

“Monkeypox virus” is transmitted from one person to another by close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets and contaminated materials such as bedding.

“It is a viral zoonotic disease that occurs primarily in tropical rainforest areas of central and West Africa and is occasionally exported to other regions.

“The government in its wisdom wants the local textile industry to enjoy protection and create more jobs for Nigerians from the cotton farms through the textile and garment factories to our markets,” he noted.