SELLERS of smuggled rice across the country have cause to worry as the Nigeria customs service has declared that raid and seizure of such contraband goods would continue in markets and other places.
Customs officials from the Federal Operation Unit, Zone A, Ikeja, Lagos, had carted away thousands of bags of rice and cans of vegetable oil from Sango market, in a raid that began around 12 am on Wednesday.
The traders staged major protests against the Customs on Wednesday and Thursday with some of them stripping naked at the governor’s office in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital.
In a telephone interview, Saturday Tribune took the spokesman of the National Headquarters of Customs, Joseph Attah, up on many of the issues raised by the traders and others who commented on the raid.
“When you know that smuggled item is stored in a particular place, and you are going to evacuate the smuggled items, of course it is proper to do it at the safest time, and using the safest style. Sometimes such operation may result in a kind of mob action; sometimes eventually such operation may lead to some casualties; and that is what Customs tries as much as possible to avoid, because life is more important than anything you may want to seize. So, Customs’ work is 24 hours, every day of the week. You strategise to achieve your aim in the safest way possible,” Attah said.
Many have asked why the smugglers were not intercepted at the borders. Indeed, some felt the action of the Customs officials was proof that their work at the borders was often far from thorough.
Mr Attah reacted this way: “Are you now saying that if a criminal succeeds and beats security checks at a particular point, or is aided by some unpatriotic elements to be able to escape a particular security point, then that person is no longer a criminal, and what he has stolen is no longer a stolen item? The status of a smuggled item does not change because of its location. If you escape Customs check and you store it somewhere, it is still a smuggled item, and therefore is liable to seizure.”
He added that similar raids would be carried out anywhere provided that there was proof that smuggled items had been stored in the place.
“You know that Customs have been making seizures of rice across the country – from different commands. As long as people think that they can smuggle, we are there to checkmate them, and to prove that smuggling does not pay. Even if you are able to escape the borderline and store it somewhere, if we have information that smuggled goods are stored somewhere, the law empowers us to fish them out; and that is what we have just done.”
Tension in Lagos markets
There was palpable concern among many traders in Lagos on Thursday as the invasion of Sango Market in neighbouring Ogun State by operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service in the early hours of Wednesday dominated discussions in many markets.
Many of those who spoke with Saturday Tribune thought it was strange that Customs officers would leave their traditional duty posts at the borders to begin to terrorise traders at their markets.
In a telephone interview with Saturday Tribune on Thursday, Jerry Attah, the spokesman of the Unit that carried out the raid, confirmed that Wednesday’s operation was indeed without precedent.
“This is the only place something like this has happened,” he said. “It has never happened anywhere else. However, the timing is inconsequential because the law empowers us to check freely, and if we suspect any area to be home to contraband goods, we can go there any time or any day to take possession of such smuggled item. You agree with me that that area (Sango) is actually a volatile area. It is actually tactical, because we had to ensure that no lives are lost and that we do not record any casualties. That is the reason for the timing.”
“Military style”
Among traders who spoke with Saturday Tribune on Thursday was the Secretary of Aguiyi Line at Ladipo Auto Market, Mr Solomon Anekwe, who described the “style” of the raid as “military” in nature. While Anekwe said it was doubtful such an operation would ever be carried out in a Lagos market, he said his union and other market unions in the State would learn from the incident.
“I heard about the incident. I know that it is possible the rice and the oil were smuggled. But what we are saying is why did the officials carry out their operation in the middle of the night? That is wrong. We have had a lot of issues even in this market. Government has closed the market many times before, for different reasons. Each time there is a problem, government would close the market, and our leaders would be the ones to go and talk with the government on our behalf, until the matter is resolved. So, if Customs had closed Sango market or closed the shops affected, it would have been better, instead of using trucks to pack everything out.”
The immediate-past President-General of Alaba International Market, Engineer Paul Okenwa, declined to comment because, according to him, he was not familiar with the details of the incident. Attempts made to reach the current head of the market were unsuccessful.
However, a trader at the Fancy and Furniture Section of the market, Mr Ihegulu Nze, said such a raid would be fiercely resisted should it ever occur at Alaba.
“I trust our security here,” he said. “Have you ever heard that armed robbers came here? It is not possible. Talking about what happened in Ogun State, what they have done is like armed robbery, because it is only armed robbers that attack people at night.”
Indian garri
When a few days ago, it was reported that “garri” believed to have been imported from India was noticed at a Lagos supermarket, many saw it as an unfortunate development.
Speaking about this, Attah said the incident at Sango Ota, rather than elicit so much ire from the public, should serve as a “wake-up call“.
“I’m sure that you know that the policy on rice is paying off. There has been more production of local rice; a lot of state governments have committed their resources to the production of rice. Our rating globally has also improved. Local rice now competes with foreign rice on the Nigerian market. A lot of Nigerians today prefer to buy local rice, because they know it is more nutritious, and that sometimes you are not even sure of the quality of the foreign rice we are buying. Each time you buy foreign items, you are paying for the labour of the producing country, and that is why this government is trying to avoid this by bringing policies that will encourage local production.
“As for the Indian garri, we are not aware of any Indian garri. We saw those things on social media. We are aware that NAFDAC has said the garri was not produced in India, but in Ghana, and that the cover was printed in the UK. If something was produced in Ghana, why would the packaging be done in the UK? But that goes to show you our penchant for foreign items. That is the ultimate lesson from all of this: we must learn to begin to make our own products and to be proud of them.”
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