Following the alleged invasion of their stores by about 30 officials of the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone A, Ikeja, accompanied by soldiers, market women, who deal in parboiled rice at Mile 2 Oke/Under-bridge Market, in Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State, staged a peaceful protest to the head office of Vanguard Media Limited, yesterday.

The Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd) has approved the appointment of six acting Deputy Comptrollers-General of Customs in the ongoing re-organisation in the Service.

DESPITE the recent strike called by the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, Apapa area, Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has generated N221,929,294,437 between January and September.

DIRECTOR-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali, rtd, has explained that he decided to lift the ban on importation of rice through land borders due largely to the great increase in the activities of smugglers of the commodity, which he noted was largely reducing the revenue generation of the agency.

The Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), has ordered the immediate removal of rice from import restriction list and the re-introduction of import duty payment at land borders.

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), has stated that it is presently neither recruiting nor auctioning seized or overtime, adding that such activities remain suspended till further notice.

National Secretary of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Uchu Block, has warned operators in the maritime industry to brace up for problems ahead because the Nigeria Customs Service does not have all it takes to effectively operate the destination inspection scheme.

Several years ago, at a conference on Coastal Piracy in Nigeria’s Territorial Waters, I admonished a senior member of the Nigeria Customs and Immigrations Department that the Customs was the most corrupt sector of the Nigerian public service.

Do you still remember a particularly awful service experience you had in the hands of a certain organization some 10 or 15 years ago? If you do, your memory can favourably compare with that of an elephant. I understand that elephants hardly forget anything. In fact, as they grow older (especially the female) their memory gets better and becomes more useful for adaptation to the environment. Well, some customers are like that.

Lagos — Comptroller -General of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Dikko Inde Abdullahi, Wednesday, ordered the closure of two cargo warehouses operated by Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited, SAHCOL, and the Nigeria Aviation Handling Company, NAHCo, Plc at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos for alleged unwholesome practices including illegal clearing of goods and non-remittance of appropriate revenue to the Federal Government.